Kolkata: A possible mouth watering clash between Indian ace Sania Mirza and world No 9 Martina Hingis of Switzerland in the US$ 175,000 WTA Sunfeast Open will have to wait till the semi-final stage.
Sania, seeded fifth, has got an easy opening round outing against a qualifier while top-seeded Hingis would be up against world number 84 Melinda Czink of Hungary, as per the draw of lots for the main tournament, which begins on Monday.
Czink, who had taken the fizz out of the Sunfeast Open last year by conquering crowd favourite Sania in the second round, has been in good form of late and could pose a few problems for title favourite Hingis.
Sania, whose ranking has plummeted to 70 after a series of lacklustre shows, would face the winner of the first round battle between Russian Galina Voskoboeva and Sandra Kloesel of Germany if she gets past the first round.
If the girl from Hyderabad crosses the hurdle, she could come up against fourth seed French girl Aravane Rezai, who crosses sword with Indian wild card Ankita Bhambri in the lung-opener.
In case Sania pulls off an upset of sorts and Hingis does justice to her reputation, the two could engage in a duel at the pre-summit stage of the tournament.
Comments
0 comment