Pacific Life Open: Mirza-Mattek Lost in Semifinal

Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek started well in their encounter with 3rd seeded Chinese duo of Yan Zi and Zheng Jie in the women's doubles semifinal of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells on Friday, but they could not capitalize on that advantage.

In this three-set thriller, Sania and Mattek drew first blood as they took the 1st set 7-6.

Yan and Zheng won the 2nd set after getting a critical break in the 11th game of the set. The chinise duo then went on to win the tie break 10-4 to book their place in the final.

Pacific West Open : Mirza-Mattek in Doubles Semifinal

Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek stunned formidable Taipei duo of Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang to book a doubles semifinal berth at the $2.1 Million Pacific Life Open championships here.

The Indo-US duo prevailed 7-5 4-6 11-9 in a gruelling quarterfinal encounter of the Tier I event, Wednesday night.

Chuang and Chan are world number 9 and 10 while Sania and Mattek stand at 25 and 36 in the WTA ranking, respectively.

The winners next take on Chinese 3rd-seed pair of Zi Yan and Jie Zheng, who defeated Czech-Polish combine of Iveta Benesova and Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0 6-4.

Pacific Life Open : Hantuchova Defeats Sania

Sania is beaten by twice champion and holder Daniela Hantuchova by 6-1 7-6 on Tuesday at Indian Wells, California. The fifth-seeded Slovakian held off a strong fight back by her opponent to wrap up victory in one hour, 55 minutes and set up a possible quarter-final with 2006 winner Maria Sharapova.

Hantuchova, who beat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in last year's final at Indian Wells, broke Mirza in the second and fourth games to storm through the opening set in 39 minutes.

After trading an early service break in the second set, Daniela broke again in the 11th game, when Sania double faulted, to lead 6-5. Although Hantuchova then lost her own serve, she clinched the tie-break 7-4, sealing victory with a crunching backhand down the line.

Pacific Life Open: Sania in Pre-Quarter Final

Sania Mirza put up a spirited fight back to defeat Israel's Shahar Peer to move into the pre-quarterfinal of the $2.1 million Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells, California, Sunday night.

Sania lost the first set in the tie-break, but thereafter she brilliantly rallied to beat her former doubles partner 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-3 in the third round match.

Sania now faces world number eight Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, who beat Chinese Jie Zhang 6-4, 6-2 in another third round match.
Sania is seeded 21st in singles in the Tier I event while Hantuchova is the 5th seed.

Pacific Life Open: Mirza-Mattek in Quarter Final

India's Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek of the US advanced to the quarterfinals of the $2.1 million Pacific Life Open here defeating Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus and Anastasia Rodionova of Russia in a tough three-setter.

The seventh seed Indo-American duo had to toil hard in windy conditions to prevail over Poutchek-Rodionova 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 in the second round of the season's first Masters Series event Saturday night.

In the singles, Sania will take on Israeli Sahar Peer in the third round.

Pacific Life Open: Sania Advances to 3rd Round

Sania advanced to the third round of the $2.1 million Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells (California, US) defeating Olga Savchuk of Ukraine in a tough three-setter.

Sania lost the opening set Friday night but came back strongly to register a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Savchuk who is way behind Sania in the rankings at the 96th position.

Sania, currently ranked 32nd and seeded 21 in this tournament, had received a bye in the first round.

In the doubles draw, Sania and her American partner Bethanie Mattek are seeded seventh and the duo is set to face Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus and Russian Anastasia Rodionova in the second round.

Pacific Life Open: Mirza-Mattek Duo in 2nd Round

Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek sailed past Poland's Klaudia Jans and Gabriela Navratilova of Czech Republic in straight sets to advance to the second round of the $ 2,100,000 Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells, California.

The seventh seed Indo-American duo won 6-3 6-2 in the first round of the Tier I hardcourt event on Wednesday.

Sania has been seeded 21 in the singles event and moved to the second round after getting a bye. She next faces Ukranian Olga Savchuk, who rallied to beat Russian Yaroslava Shvedova 2-6 6-4 7-6 (4) in her first round match.

Sania's New Coach -- Sven Groeneveld

Sania Mirza has hired the services of top tennis coach Sven Groeneveld, who is also coaching the world number two Serbian Ana Ivanovic. She started working with the Dutchman earlier this week.

Groeneveld, who has almost two decades of international coaching experience behind him, has worked with Mary Pierce, Michael Stich, Greg Rusedski and Nicolas Kiefer among others in the past. He’ll work with Sania for 15 weeks during the course of the year. Groeneveld will coach Sania during Grand Slams and Tier I tournaments. He will work in tandem with her father Imran, who will manage her coaching full-time for the rest of the season.