CWG tennis: Sania, Somdev in singles semifinals

NEW DELHI - India’s tennis aces Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza rolled into the singles semi-finals with comfortable straight set victories in the Commonwealth Games tennis competition at the R.K. Khanna stadium here Thursday.

In singles, top men’s seed Somdev doused a spirited effort from sixth-seeded Rubin Statham of New Zealand 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 41 minutes while Sania, seeded second in the women’s, dispatched another New Zealander Maria Erakovic, seeded eighth, 6-2, 6-3.

It was a successful outing for India in doubles as well with Somdev and Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi moving into the semi-finals.

Somdev and Bopanna beat Australian Matt Ebden and Greg Jones 7-6 (5), 6-4 while Paes and Bhupathi were stretched by England’s Josh Godall and James Ward, before prevailing 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4).

“They played above their level, but we are used to this. We played well in the second set. There was a lot of pressure.”

Paes and Bhupathi will next meet fourth seeds Australian Peter Luczak and Paul Hanley.

In singles, it was again a wobbly start for Somdev. The world 97th-ranked Indian’s serve somewhat troubled him in the first set, which saw the two players sharing five breaks of serves.

Statham, ranked 353, on the other hand, looked dangerous with his powerful forehand but perished in his attempt to go for quick winners.

Somdev had earlier beaten Stathum in straight sets in the qualifiers in $50,000 Lexington enroute his maiden Challenger title.

After snatching a decisive break in the eighth game to serve out the first set, Somdev carried the momentum to the second. He seized early initiative with a 4-0 lead while Stathum simply went through the motions.

The Indian, however, made a heavy weather in closing the match. At 5-2, he wasted three match points on Stathum’s serve and dropped his serve immediately to spill the match to the ninth game where he again failed to convert two match points. He then won a love game to seal the set and match, inviting with a vociferous cheering from the crowd which poured in good numbers this day.

“I am happy to be in the semi-finals. The court’s is a bit slow, but I am feeling really fit, thanks to my coaches,” said Somdev, who next plays Australia’s third-seeded Ebden.

“I have never played him (Ebden) before. But he is a very good player and I will have to play well against him, I can’t afford to give him too many chances.”

Sania looked in a hurry to wrap up her match against an off-colour Erakovic, once a top-50 player. The Indian was in her element as she smashed powerful groundstrokes and even sent down three aces during a nearly hour long win.

Sania also levelled her head-to-head meeting with Erakovic 1-1. The two had previously met in 2008 at the grasscourts of Birmingham where the Indian could only win three games during her straight set defeat.

Sania next play the winner of the match between compatriot Rushmi Chakravarthi and Australian Olivia Rogowska.