Kloesel sets date with Sania after marathon match

Kolkata, Sep 20 (UNI) The German panache for victory came alive today when Sandra Kloesel defeated a higher ranked Russian Galina Voskoboeva 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 6-4 to set up a date with the Indian favourite Sania Mirza in the next round of Sunfeast Open WTA Tier III meet.

And if she continues playing the way she did today -- a back breaking, gritty, gut wrenching game of tennis, marked with fabulous returns -- Sania could have a handful.

A tough three setter that lasted almost three hours saw the German girl being stretched by Voskoboeva's serve. But she was undaunted and even the 18 aces from the big serving Russian was not enough to keep her away from victory.

The first set ended on an even note with the two trading breaks and playing out a close tie-breaker. In the second, Kloesel raced to a 3-0 lead, but the Russian broke her in the fifth and held the sixth to draw level. A decisive break in the 11th game gave the Russian the set.

At one-set all, the German held her nerve and with games going with serves in the third set the match looked pretty even. Leading 5-4, Klosel won the crucial break in the 10th game to win the set at 6-4.

Later Klosel said, ''I just wanted to hang in there. She was serving really well and I knew I just needed one break to do the trick and I did that in the fifth game and held on to take the match.'' Meanwhile, Tamarine Tanasugarn was the first to qualify for the quarter-finals at the Sunfeast Open WTA Tier III meet here.

The Thai, who was a world no 16 some two years back, played her trademark baseline game of never-ending returns to run her opponent ragged. Abigail Spears was unsettled by the nagging precision as Tamarine sailed home 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

In the first set, the American Spears was all over the Thai veteran, and sailed to a 2-6 win. ''She was hitting winner after winner and I just could not be in the game,'' Tanasugarn said. But in the second set onwards, she started to play more rallies and as she started returning winners the American's game fell apart.

''I made her play more rallies and that did the trick. I wanted her to destroy herself and she did exactly that,'' she said.

In the first set, Spears was broken in the very first game but she broke back immediately and then broke Tanasugarn in the sixth and eighth games to win the set at 6-2.

But then came the turnaround and the experience of Tanasugarn prevailed. She began the second set with a break, was broken in the fourth but then broke in the fifth, seventh and ninth to draw level at one-set all.

The third set was easier for her as she won consecutive breaks in the sixth and eighth games to clinch the deal.

Tanasugarn, who briefly partnered world No 3 Maria Sharapova and won two doubles titles with her in 2003, simply wore down Spears in the third set.

Notwithstanding the political upheaval back home -- WTA officials were quick to ban any questions on that topic after a couple were volleyed at her at the post match press conference -- the Thai won four consecutive games from the fifth game. She achieved breaks in the sixth and eighth to shut out the match 6-2.

In the doubles, tie Indian flag kept flying as Sunitha Rao and Casey Delacqua of Australia defeated The Thai-Taipei pair of Tamarine Tanasugarn and Chia-Jung Chuang 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6).

Meanwhile, Rushmi Chakravarthy's campaign at the Tier III meet came to an end. The Indian, along with partner Sandy Gumulya of Indonesia, went down 1-6, 0-6 against the Czech and Indonesian pair Hana Sromova and Angelique Widjaja.

In another doubles match, Akgul Amanmuradova retired with a right ankle sprain as she and her partner Iroda Tulyaganova conceded the tie 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 0-3 against the Ukrainian pair Yulia Beygelzimer and Yuliana Fedak.

UNI BA DH PM2017