India upsets Croatia in Hopman Cup, brightens chance for final berth

Perth, Jan 3 (UNI) Sania Mirza continued her unbeaten run in singles as she and Rohan Bopanna scripted yet another 2-1 upset victory over fifth seeded Croatia in their second Group B tie to inch closer for a final appearance in the Hopman Cup mixed team championship here today.

Sania thrashed Sanja Ancic 6-2, 6-3 to put unseeded and debutant India ahead before Mario Ancic beat Rohan Bopanna 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3) to draw parity and stretch the tie to mixed doubles.

But, Sania and Bopanna reproduced their fine form of the first league tie which saw them upset Czech Republic to come out victorious against the Ancic brother-sister duo 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10/8) in a 75-minute thriller and pocket the match 2-1.

With today's win, India brightens their chances of booking a final berth and now tops the group with an all-win record. They play second seeded Spain tomorrow in their last round robin group league.

Czech Republic and Spain are in second position in the group with one win and one loss each, while Croatia are out of contention with two losses so far.

The top team from Group B will play the winner of Group A in the final on Friday.

Sania had the burden of expectations on her shoulders and to her credit, the Hyderabadi did not wilt under it.

Pitted against Sanja Ancic who lies more than 100 rungs below in the WTA singles rankings, the Indian made her intentions clear by breaking her rival in the first game and racing to a 3-0 lead.

Sanja finally managed to hold her serve in the fourth game to put a brake but the Indian was back in her elements again. While her power-packed forehands often caught the Croat on wrong foot, Sania's serve also stood her in good stead and the Indian broke Sanja in the eigth game to clinch the set in just 27 minutes.

Sania was slightly erratic in the second set and her opponent came from behind to level it 3-3, indicating she was not ready to throw in the towel yet.

That jolted Sania out of her complacence and the Indian soon regained her composure. A string of winners flowed from her racquet and the Indian grabbed the next three games in a row to win the match and put India 1-0 up in the tie.

''She hit the ball very hard but I think I was more experienced. I've played more in front of big crowds than she has and overall I think I played okay,'' Sania said after the match.

With world number nine Mario Ancic -- Sanja's elder brother -- on the ther side of the net, Rohan Bopanna had nothing to lose but everything to gain against an opponent who is 268 places higher in the world rankings.

Bopanna seemed unperturbed, amost ignorant, of his opponent's reputation and went neck-and-neck till the 12th game. It was an amazing string of 12 games which went with serve with the Indian refusing to concede an inch without fight and stretching it to tie-breaker.

Served a wake up call by the Indian, Ancic showed his class in tie-breaker and raced to 4-1 lead. Bopanna, who looked so composed so far, finally showed sigs of nerve and eventualy lost the tie-breaker 2-7.

Bopanna did lose the set but not the heart and the second set followed the same script with the players stetching it to tie-breaker. And the results were same again as Ancic proved his superiority in crunch sitution to seal the issue 7-3.

Bopanna played his heart out and even outshone his illustrious Croat rival 16-13 on ace count but choked in tie-breakers.

The Sania-Bopanna pair, however, showed the nerves to come from one set down and take the deciding set in tie-breaker to win the tie 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 and the match 2-1.

The Indian duo, who had earlier shocked Czech Republic by winning the deciding mixed doubles tie to script an 2-1 upset win, found going tough in the first set against the Ancic siblings and the Croats raced to 3-0 lead and quelled a late challenge to win the set 6-3.

But, Sania and Bopanna came back ctrongly in the second set, broke their rivals in the sixth game to go up 4-2 before winning the set 6-3.

In the decider, both the pairs went on to hold their serves and the Indian pair held on to their nerves to come out victorious in the tie-breaker 10/8 and the set 7-6 to put them in a strong position for a place in the final.

UNI