Sania makes winning return

Hobart, January 14

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza made a winning return to the WTA circuit by advancing to the women’s doubles quarterfinals of the Hobart International Tournament with Ukrainian partner Nadia Kichenok, here today.

Returning to the court after two years, Sania and Kichenok prevailed 2-6 7-6 (3) 10-3 over Georgia’s Oksana Kalashnikova and Japan’s Miyu Kato in a contest lasting one hour and 41 minutes. The Indo-Ukrainian pair will next be up against Americans Vania King and Christina McHale. The US combination upstaged Spanish duo of Georgina Garcia Perez and Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2 7-5 in a Round of 16 clash.

Smoke concerns

Melbourne: A player collapsed in a coughing fit and retired from Australian Open qualifying today as organisers faced a storm of criticism for ploughing ahead with matches despite bushfires smoke plunging Melbourne’s air quality to “hazardous” levels. Slovenia’s Dalila Jakupovic was leading Stefanie Vogele 6-4 5-6 at the Melbourne Park when she slumped to her knees at the back of the blue hardcourt suffering breathing difficulties.Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova’s warmup match at the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs was abandoned with the Russian trailing Germany’s Laura Siegemund 7-6 5-5 after both players complained to the chair umpire.

“I never experienced something like this and I was really scared,” Jakupovic said. “I was scared that I would collapse. That’s why I went on the floor (of the court) because I couldn’t walk any more.” Meanwhile, Australia’s one-time child prodigy Bernard Tomic was eliminated in the first round after losing 7-6(4) 6-3 to American Denis Kudla.

Lucky Barty

Melbourne: World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty was staring at a second consecutive first-round exit from Australian Open warmup events today before grinding out a 4-6 6-3 7-5 win over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Adelaide International. Marketa Vondrousova sprung the upset of the day by tipping former Sloane Stephens out of the tournament 6-2 6-2 on centre court. — Agencies