By IANS,
Charleston (South Carolina) : India’s Sania Mirza gave a fright to second-seeded American Venus Williams before going down 1-6, 6-3, 2-6 in the second round of the Family Circle Cup tennis tournament.
Sania, ranked 100 in the world, made World No. 5 Venus sweat for two and a half hours.
Venus, who won the event five years back, was quick to get off the block, winning nine of the eleven games, to take the first set in 46 minutes here Wednesday.
The American with a break up was leading 3-1 in the second set when Sania struck back. The 22-year-old Hyderabadi, backing her powerful forehand, ripped off five games in a row, which included breaking Venus at love for a 5-3 lead. Sania then served out the set in the furiously fought ninth game, that went to deuce eight times.
Sania, who has three top-ten wins in her kitty, carried the momentum in the decider and was leading 2-1 when Venus hit back, winning five straight games, to close the match.
Venus was all praise for Sania after the match.
“Sania has a lot of talent and a lot of power, and she uses it to her advantage. She was going for it and had nothing to lose. But I’ve been in these situations before,” Williams said.
“I think there’s a sense of nothing to lose, because when you look at the number and the rankings and the statistics, I’m supposed to win this match. So that gives her an opportunity to swing freely.
“These kinds of matches are good to pull out. It’s always fun out there. I have a lot of experience, so I rely on that. It was a great opening round, and now I’m ready for the next one,” said Venus.
Venus next plays 16th seed Sabine Lisicki who beat qualifier Lenka Wienerova 6-4, 6-3.