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Sania Mirza is on a roll in New York. The Indian tennis star, partnering Bruno Soares, had to battle hard to reach the finals of the mixed doubles event. Sania has also reached the women’s doubles semifinals with her partner Cara Black.
Quick start for Chan-Hutchins
The top seeded duo were down a pair of breaks in the first set, but won seven straight games to take the first set 7-5. Even though Yung-Jan Chan and Ross Hutchins recovered to snag the second set, Sania and Soares clinched the match tiebreak to progress to the final round 7-5, 4-6, [10-7].
The scratch combination of Chan and Hutchins, an unseeded duo, threatened to walk away with the match during the early stages. They broke the Brazilian in the second game of the match to gain control of the first set. Their grip tightened when, with the top seeds being down a break point on the Mirza serve in the fourth game, Soares failed to clear the net off his backhand.
Chan crashed her response into the net when Sania thundered a powerful forehand return in the seventh game, as Soares and her worked their way into the contest. An enraged Sania produced a powerful service game to help claw back to 3-5.
A fighting comeback
The set was brought back on serve when Soares and Hutchins combined to produce some terrific tennis at the net and off the ground to reach 4-5.
When Chan was broken in the 11th game, due largely to Soares’ sharpness at the net, the Indo-Brazilian duo had somehow found their way into the lead at 6-5. It would be easy to say that the unseeded pair had conspired to somehow lose the first set in 41 minutes.
But the reality is that they were just caught in the flashlights of a remarkable effort from Sania and Soares.
To their credit, Chan and Hutchins kept their heads despite being under assault. Once again they went ahead in the second set, as they broke the Mirza serve. But the Indian seemed eager to make amends, and a brilliant backhand return winner enabled the top seeds to get the set back on serve in the ninth game.
But Chan and Hutchins then broke Soares in the 10th game to clinch the second set and push the match into a decisive breaker.
Mirza-Soares perform fabulously in the clutch moments
In a mirror image of the early part of the contest, it was Mirza and Soares who gained ascendancy in the match breaker, leading 5-0. But despite being down three mini-breaks, Chan and Hutchins worked their way back to claw even at 6-6, winning six of seven points. The tide turned again quickly though, as Sania and Soares won the match losing a solitary point from there to end the see-saw tussle.
Soares tasted mixed doubles success in Flushing Meadows when he won the title in 2012 with Ekaterina Makarova. Sania will be playing her maiden final at the US Open, when she faces off against Abigail Spears and Santiago Gonzalez for the title.
Sania is also featuring in the semis of the women’s doubles event. Playing with her regular partner, Mirza and Black will take on Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta for a place in the finals.
