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The final of the women’s singles at the commonwealth games could not have been much better thanks to the superlative efforts of the two gorgeous women in action . Anastasia Rodionova lived up to her top billing at the games by narrowly edging out crowd favourites Sania Mirza 6-3 ,2-6 ,6-6(7-3) in a tense finale which had the delhi crowd dancing to their tunes . Sania mirza survived 4 match points in a classic third set before double faulting at the crucial juncture in the tiebreak to hand the gold medal to the lanky Australian in 2 hours and 13 minutes .
The constant rant of the Delhi crowd and their incessant cheering and support for Sania had Rodionova reeling in frustration and anger even as the chair umpire had to be at her best to contain the voluble crowd . The first set saw seven break of serves , 5 out of which was on Sania’s serve . With Rodionova able to hold on to her serve once , she managed to easily win the set 6-3 after some lackluster performance from the Indian . However the script seemed similar to the semifinal match as Sania buoyed by the raptures and clapping of the crowd came back like a hurricane to take the second set 6-2 . Her serve seemed to improve and she managed to find her killing forehands which made the way for an excellent third set . Sania continued her dominance over Rodionova in the third set winning her serve and breaking the opponents to race to a 2-0 lead . Rodionova clearly angered by the incessant cheering and rant of the crowd finally got back her composure and then took 3 straight games and then raced to a 5-3 lead in a tizzy . But Sania was not ready to give the match away without a fight and she and Rodionova played a marathon game which finally ended in the Indian’s favour . Sania managed to win her serve and this went on to 6-6 . However the tiebreaker was clearly dominated by Anastasia Rodionova who raced toa 6-3 lead . Sania in a typical fashion double faulted which ended her dreams of capturing the gold for India .
“I think what’s important is that I gave my best. It’s an honour to be playing for my country,” Sania said. With Somdev Varman yet to play his gold medal match , India can still expect to salvage some pride and win a gold from a discipline clearly thought to be dominated by the Indians .
