In an exciting finale to the ITF Lexington Challenger, second seed Sania Mirza produced some thrilling tennis on the big points to hold her nerve and edge out top-seeded Frenchwoman Julie Coin 7-6 (5), 6-4 in front of a passionate and often over-zealous packed Indian contingent.
Competing in only her second Challenger event, tennis ace Sania Mirza clinched the $50,000 ITF title in Lexington, USA after an upset win over top seed Julie Coin in front of a passionate and often over-zealous packed Indian contingent.
The Hyderabadi, who was seeded second in the event, defeated France's Coin 7-6 (5), 6-4 yesterday. The last time Sania competed in a Challenger event was way back in 2003.
Sania broke Coin in the very first game of the match, and consolidated the break to take an early 2-0 lead. Coin got herself on the scoreboard in the following game and broke the Sania serve to level proceedings at 2 games apiece.
ADVERTISEMENT
Both girls held serve till the 8th game of the opening set when Coin broke Sania to pull ahead 5-3. Sania, however, showed tremendous stomach for the fight breaking straight back and then holding on to two under-pressure service games to force the opening set into a tie-break.
The breaker mirrored the set, with Coin pulling ahead 5-2 before a Sania fight back save the Hyderabadi ace win four points in a row to nick the tiebreak 7-5.
The second set was just as exciting as the first, with Coin taking an early break to go ahead 2-1, only for Sania to break straight back.
Sania had the slight advantage going into the business end of the second set serving first, and broke Coin for a 5-3 lead.
Sania served for the match, but was promptly broken back by Coin. However, Sania broke the Coin serve one final time in a marathon tenth game to seal an impressive win. Amazingly, this was only the second ITF $50,000 event that Sania had participated in, the first being way back in 2003 when she was still making a name for herself on the pro tour.
Speaking after the match, Brooks Downing, managing director of the BEST/Collegiate Division (the Lexington-based agency that owns and runs the event), "This was the largest paid attendance for the Lexington Challenger's Sunday finals...and we owe that in no small part to Mirza's talent and celebrity and the passionate fans from her homeland - students from the University of Kentucky and many others from central Kentucky - who came out to cheer her on. We loved that!"
One person who didn't enjoy the crowd was Coin. "It felt like I was playing Fed Cup," said a practically-tearful Coin afterward about her foe's home-court advantage. "(The Indians in the crowd) were cheering my faults and misses," Coin told thesportscampus.com.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
