Sania crashes out of Sony Ericsson International WTA tournament

Bangalore, Feb 16 (UNI) In a major upset, second seed Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza bowed out of the Sony Ericsson International WTA tennis championship here tonight, trounced summarily by Yaroslava Shevdova of Russia.

Shevdova, a WTA tour debutant, won 6-7 (7-2), 6-4, 6-4 in an encounter that lasted nearly 150 minutes and moved into the semifinals, where she would meet Tzipora Obziler (Israel), who earlier defeated Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

In her post-match comments, Shevdova said that after studying Sania's game in the previous matches, she attacked Sania with her backhand returns that caught the Indian on the wrong foot.

Admitting that she was nervous as she was facing the Indian on her home ground, Shevdova, ranked 143, said she gained confidence as the game wore on. ''This is the best game I have ever played.'' Sania said she lost to a better player and a big server. Though she was one of the best returners of serve in the game, she found it difficult to take even the Russian's second serve which were bouncing high. ''She deserved to win today. I did put up some fight, but the Russian's booming serves took the match away from me.'' MORE UNI MSP-VK GD SKB2002