Sania Mirza gives Venus Williams a fright at Australian Open

A spirited challenge by Sania Mirza wasn't enough to prevent a 6-7, 4-6 loss to current Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in the third round of the 2008 Australian Open.

Mirza, whose previous best at Melbourne Park was a third round loss to Venus' sister Serena in 2005, gave millions of Indians hopes of an upset win as a flurry of her forehand winners sailed past the six-time Grand Slam champion.

But Venus wasn't going to let Mirza add to India's quota of impressive wins on Saturday - what with the Indian cricket team thrashing Australia in the Perth test earlier in the day.

The 21-year-old Hyderabadi had begun in promising fashion in a match delayed by several hours, breaking the American's serve at two-all in the first set.

A few minutes later, Mirza was up 5-3 as a Venus serve rocketed past her. She responded with a smile and an outstanding return of serve on the next point. At 30-30, the Indian was two points away from the set and an upset win loomed large.

But it wasn't to be.

The game went to deuce twice before Venus dug in to hold serve and Mirza found herself serving for the set.

A costly error by Mirza at 30-all set up breakpoint for the American. The eighth-seeded Venus revved up a notch, broke back and then sent down a flurry of aces to go up 6-5.

All seemed over when the Indian went down 15-40 but a bunch of winners and Venus errors saw Mirza take the match into the tiebreaker. The number 31 seed was all smiles as an ardent fan shouted "Sensational Sania" and the spectators in the Rod Laver arena settled in for a slugfest.

But the 27-year-old Venus played a flawless tiebreak (7-0) and grabbed the first set in 50 minutes.

Mirza's serve let her down and the more experienced Williams pounced on the Indian's weakness as she kept edging forward inside the baseline to face the weak second serves.

The momentum had clearly shifted in the American's favour but Mirza seemed determined to give a good fight. The opening point of the second set was the best of the match - the 19-shot rally ending in Mirza's favour.

Games went on serve till 3-3 when Williams broke Mirza in a game which saw two points challenged by either player and replayed. A costly doublefault (her fourth of the match) didn't do the Indian any good.

Mirza's unforced errors crept up - she was to make 30 of them in the 92-minute match. And Venus was serving better in the second set with more aces (5), more winners (10) and fewer unforced errors (8).

Her confidence back on track, the elder Williams was soon 5-3 up and two points from victory on the Indian's serve. But Mirza responded with an ace (her only ace of the match) to take the game.

Serving for the match at 5-4, Venus sent down two aces and wrapped up the match on the first of her three matchpoints.

Minor hiccup for Sania Mirza in Japan Open second round

Sania Mirza's campaign at the AIG Japan Open suffered a minor hiccup against a left-handed Australian named Casey Dellacqua but the Indian number one advanced to the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win.

The 84-ranked Dellacqua, whom Mirza has never played before, broke her serve in the first and fifth games of the deciding set. But experience in the higher echelons of the game helped Mirza, ranked 29 in the world, to claw her way back to win the match.

It was Mirza's 30th win on the WTA Tour this year as opposed to 16 losses.

Up next for the 20-year-old from Hyderabad is eighth seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta. Mirza had beaten her in straight sets in their only career meeting at the Open Gaz de France, Paris in February 2006.

The $175,000 Tier III event at Tokyo has been happy hunting ground for Mirza, who upset top-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva to reach the semifinal in her only previous appearance here in 2005.

This time around, Mirza is seeded second and one of the favourites to lay hands on the $25,840 winner's purse and 140 valuable WTA points.

If she gets past Pennetta, Mirza's toughest test would lie in the semifinals where she is expected to play Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano (5).

Razzano beat Mirza in straight sets in Los Angeles this year and is coming off a win at the Jinjiannan Guangzhou International Women's Open. Should Mirza survive, awaiting her in the final would be world no 8 Venus Williams, herself on a roll after a victory at Seoul last week.

In the first round at Tokyo on Monday, Mirza had beaten local hope Ayumi Morita 6-0, 6-4. The next day, she teamed up with American Christina Fusano to beat Urszula Radwanska of Poland and Agnes Szatmari of Romania 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles.

The Indo-US pair will now battle second seeds Sun TianTian and Zi Yan of China for a place in the doubles quarterfinals.

Easy win for Sania Mirza in first round of Japan Open

Sania Mirza made a winning return to the WTA Tour with a 6-0, 6-4 win over local hope Ayumi Morita in the opening round of the AIG Japan Open in Tokyo.

Mirza, sidelined by a wrist injury following her third round loss at the US Open last month, showed no sign of rustiness - blazing through the first set without dropping a game.

The Indian then seemed to let down her guard, with the 17-year-old Morita breaking Mirza's serve in the very first game of the second set. A game later, the Japanese player was two points away from leading 3-0.

But Mirza, ranked 29 in the world, came back strongly to take the next three games and then broke Morita in the eighth game to lead 5-3.

Serving for the match, Mirza was broken again but recovered to break back and vanquish the 139-ranked Morita in little more than an hour.

It had been Mirza's 29th win on the WTA Tour this year as opposed to 16 losses.

Up next for the 20-year-old from Hyderabad is 84-ranked Australian Casey Dellacqua, whom she has never played before.

MIRZA'S RANKING TAKES A HIT

Thanks to her unplanned break from tennis, Mirza's singles ranking slipped to 29 on Monday - two places down from her career-best 27 in late August. Her doubles ranking has also taken a beating with Mirza now down to 20th in the world. A good result at the Japan Open should reverse the ebb in rankings.

TOURNAMENT PREVIEW AND POSSIBLE OPPONENTS

The $175,000 Tier III event at Tokyo has been happy hunting ground for Mirza, who upset top-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva to reach the semifinal in her only previous appearance here in 2005.

This time around, Mirza is seeded second and one of the favourites to lay hands on the $25,840 winner's purse and 140 valuable WTA points.

In the quarterfinals, Mirza could run into eighth seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta whom she had beaten in their only career meeting in Paris last year.

But Mirza's toughest test would lie in the semifinals where she's seeded to play Maria Kirilenko (3) of Russia or Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano (5).

Razzano beat Mirza in straight sets in Los Angeles this year and is coming off a win at the Jinjiannan Guangzhou International Women's Open. Also on a winning streak is Kirilenko, champion at Kolkata's Sunfeast Open - a tournament doomed by Mirza's absence and Twenty20 cricket.

Mirza leads 2-0 in career meetings against Kirilenko but the Russian is playing her best tennis - her fine run at last week's Hansol Korea Open broken only by Venus Williams in the final.

Kirilenko's spectacular results in September have also helped her overtake Mirza in the latest rankings.

Should Mirza survive, awaiting her in the final would be world no 8 Venus Williams, herself on a roll after the Seoul victory.

In the doubles event, Mirza is partnering little known American Christina Fusano and hopes to emulate her semifinal appearance here in 2005 when she partnered Israel's Shahar Peer.