Sunfeast sheen robbed in Sania pullout; Neha, Kyra shot out

On a day when Sunfeast Open's biggest crowd puller Sania Mirza pulled out, her other compatriots fell short of expectation with Neha Uberoi and Kyra Shroff disappearing in straight sets from the meet.

While fourth seed Maria Kirilenko made fast work of Neha Uberoi 6-2, 6-2, eighth seed Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei gave Kyra some lessons in tennis taking the two sets in love.

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza, meanwhile, has pulled out of Sunfeast Open 07 and will be out of action for two weeks at least.

Putting to rest all speculations Sania Mirza in a written statement said, '' I was really looking forward to participating at Sunfeast Open 2007. I am very upset that this injury is keeping me away from the courts. My fans have always been very supportive and I was keen to perform well in Kolkata. I wish all the players especially the Indian compatriots a great and exciting tournament.'' This was announced here tonight by WTA Sony Ericsson senior marketing manager Jill Hausler.

WTA Tour Supervisor for the Sunfeast Meet Fabrice Choquet added, ''Sania is out with a wrist injury that has plagued her since the US Open. She will also miss the Hansol Korea Open next week.'' ''If she recovers in time she will play the Tokyo Open that starts in two week's time,'' she said.

Lucky loser Indonesian Sandy Gumuliya will replace Sania Mirza and will now play Sunitha Rao in the first round tie. The selection of the lucky loser is made based on their performance in the qualifiers and current WTA rankings.

In the second last match of the day Neha Uberoi was blown out of the meet in 61 minutes by fourth seed Maria Kirilenko. The Russian won 6-2, 6-2.

The match began Kirilenko sending Uberoi to the ropes with a barrage of forehand winners and passing shots to which Uberoi didn't have any answer.

The world No 35 quickly moved to 3-1 up with one break. She then went on to win the fourth, fifth and sixth games to take the set 6-2. The power of Kirilenko's game and the fleetfoot of the Russian made her near invincible as she lifted her game a few notches to brush off Uberoi.

In the second set, the game became more one-sided, but not before Uberoi raised the visions of a comeback. The fourth seed clocked two quick games including breaking the 267 ranked American of Indian origin once, before Uberoi came back with a vengeance leveling scores. She won the fourth game of the second set with a passing shot to level scores.

After this the mauling started and the next four games were snuffed up in 12 minutes, as Kirilenko rode the tide to seal the match. This included two breaks in the fifth and seventh games.

After the match Kirilenko said, ''I was never under pressure in this match. I was focused and played to my potential. I am currently looking forward to the match with Ivanova with whom I have played in the same club for six years.'' Asked about the serve she lost to Uberoi, she said, ''These things happen in a match, but I never lost grip of it.''

The other match featuring 14 years old Kyra Shroff and eighth seed Yung-Jan Chan ended in less than an hour. Kyra would like to forget this initiation into the WTA tour losing 0-6, 0-6 to the Chinese Taipei player. The South Asian powerhouse roared through the match with a quality baseline game and her fleet foot left Kyra in a daze.

While Kyra found some of the stinging serves hard to handle, the passing shots and backhands were lessons that Kyra learnt with more concentration than trying to negotiate them.

However, no credit should be taken away from this brave girl who gave her best against the power volleys coming from the double handed forehands.

After the match Kyra said, ''I was nervous. I came out to do the right things. But you can't do much against someone so good.'' Chan had a word of praise for the power-puff Kyra whom she demolished in 43 minutes. Then she said, ''I have improved on my forehands.'' Asked how far did she expect to go, she said, ''I don't know. But I will give my best.'' In the other matches of the day Aussie Casey Dellacqua made quick work of Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak in just over and hour to move to the second round of the Sunfeast Open '07.

Casey Dellacqua, the burly Australian, got off to another smooth start this year too. She took little over an hour to dispose off 104-ranked Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 6-2, 6-3 in a first round match on Day one of the Sunfeast Open here today.

The day's opening match saw a baseline slugfest between British qualifier Naomi Cavaday and Ekaterina Ivanova in which the Russian came out truimph 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in an duel that lasted an hour and 38 minutes.

Cavaday, the British qualifier, who is under the tutelage of David Felgate, Tim Henman's former coach, still needs to find a way to keep her forehands on target. All Ivanova, who's yet to win a title on the tour, did, was to keep the ball in play. Cavaday did the rest by committing a huge number of unforced errors.

Dellacqua's match was more one-sided, however. The World No.85 has been in reasonable form this year with a 49-19 win-loss record in singles. Her game is shorn of frills and she took little time today to get into the groove.

Barely had Wozniak registered her first game when Dellacqua turned on the heat and bagged four games in a row. She eventually claimed the first set 6-2.

The World No.85, who broke into the top 100 of WTA rankings this year, achieved breaks in the second, fourth and ninth game of second set to seal the issue.

In another singles match Jarmila Gajdosova (Slovakia) bt Youlia Fedossova of France 6-3, 6-4.

In another doubles match the Turkish-Russian pair of Ipek Senoglu and Yaroslava Shvedova defeated American pair of Courtney Naglie and Robin Stephenson 7-6, 6-1.

The Sunfeast Open was inaugurated in the evening with State Urban and Housing development Minister Ashok Bhattacharya, Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi present on the ocassion.

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