21
News India Times
July 17, 2015
– that’s all you need to know
Sports
–WIMBLEDON
t was a brilliant day for
Indian tennis aces Leander
Paes and Sania Mirza as
both entered the finals at
the prestigiousWimbledon
in their respective categories but
with the same partner, Swiss vet-
eran Martina Hingis, here on July
10.
While Mirza and Hingis need-
ed only 56 minutes to thrash
American fifth seeds Raquel
Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears 6-
1, 6-2 in their women's doubles
semifinal, Paes and Hingis over-
came American top seeds Mike
Bryan and Bethanie Mattek-
Sands 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 12
minutes to enter the mixed dou-
bles summit clash.
This is Mirza's maiden final
here across all formats in seniors
though she had won the girls'
doubles title at the All England
Club 12 years ago with Russia's
Alisa Kleybanova. Martina, on
the other hand, has two doubles
(1996, 1998) and one singles title
(1997) to her credit that she won
at the lone grass court Major.
This is, however, Hingis' first
mixed doubles final here.
Though theWorld No.1 Mirza
has three mixed doubles Grand
Slam titles, she is yet to win the
top prize in women's doubles.
The only time she reached a
Major final in the category was at
the 2011 French Open.
Coming to the match, the top
seeds totally dominated both the
sets.
In the first one, Mirza and
Hingis broke their opponents
twice out of four opportunities
which was more than enough to
seal the set in their favor. Though
they gave three breakpoint
chances to Raquel and Abigail,
the top seeds managed to save
all three. Also, they dominated
by taking 30 of the 46 points
played in the set.
The fifth seeds were already
rattled by now which led to dou-
ble faults thrice at crucial
moments in the second set.
Mirza and Hingis got two
chances to break Raquel and
Abigail and utilised both perfect-
ly to clinch the set and match.
They were so clinical that they
did not even give a breakpoint
opportunity to their opponents.
The world's two highest
ranked players will next take on
Russian second seeds Ekaterina
Makarova and Elena Vesnina for
the title on Saturday.
Only a couple of hours later
and on the same No.1 Court,
Hingis returned to partner Paes.
Though Mattek-Sands and
Bryan played well, the seventh
seeds proved just a tad bit better
which was enough to seal the
deal.
The difference was the con-
version of the breakpoint oppor-
tunities in both the sets. Though
both pairs earned six chances
each in the match, it was Paes
and Hingis who converted thrice
to their opponents' one, which
proved to be the difference.
Overall, the Indo-Swiss pair won
73 of the 134 points played.
The 42-year-old Paes has won
the mixed doubles title here
thrice before. In 1999 he won it
with American Lisa Raymond, in
2003 with the legendary Martina
Navratilova and in 2010 with
Zimbabwean Cara Black. He has
also won the men's doubles title
here with Mahesh Bhupathi way
back in 1999.
Earlier in the day, another
Indian Sumit Nagal, partnering
Vietnam's NamHoang Ly,
earned a straight sets victory to
enter the boys's doubles semifi-
nals.
The eighth seeds took only 53
minutes to defeat Japanese com-
bination of Yusuke Takahashi
and Jumpei Yamasaki 6-2, 6-3 on
Court 6. Nagal and Ly will next
take on Serbian-Norwegian pair
of Miomir Kecmanovic and
Casper Ruud for a place in the
final.
– IANS
I
Sania Mirza, Leander Paes Enter Wimbledon Finals
Rayudu’s Unbeaten Ton Leads India To Win In Zimbabwe
By Nick Said
– HARARE
I
ndia's Ambati Rayudu hit a
career-best unbeaten centu-
ry to help them secure a
tense four-run win over
Zimbabwe in the first one-day
international at the Harare
Sports Club on July 10.
After being sent in to bat,
India stumbled to 87 for five
before Rayudu (124 not out
from 133 balls) and Stuart
Binny (77 from 76 balls) put on
an Indian record 160 for the
sixth wicket to help the tourists
reach 255 for six in their 50
overs.
Zimbabwe battled to keep
up with the rate on a slow wick-
et but late fireworks from cap-
tain Elton Chigumbura (104 not
out from 101 balls) saw them
need 10 off the final over.
They reduced that to six
from three balls but
Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled
brilliantly to concede just a sin-
gle from there and India could
breath again having restricted
the hosts to 251 for seven.
Chigumbura waited 174
matches for his maiden ODI
ton and now has two in as
many innings but will be des-
perately disappointed not to
have got his side over the line.
The day belonged to Rayudu
as he reached his second ODI
century off 117 balls, with only
22 of those runs coming from
boundaries, and has now
scored 225 runs in four innings
in Zimbabwe with just two dis-
missals. He was superbly sup-
ported by Binny, whose run-a-
ball knock defied the condi-
tions with the pair doing most
of the damage as India scored
90 runs in the final 10 overs.
Binny continued his fine
match with two for 54 with the
ball but left-arm slow bowler
Axel Patal (two for 41) was the
pick of the tourists' attack.
Off-spinner Harbhajan
Singh, playing his first ODI in
over four years, returned figures
of one for 46 in his 10 overs.
The second ODI of the
three-match series will be on
Sunday at the same venue, with
the teams also playing two
Twenty20 games starting next
Friday.
– Reuters
Above, Martina Hingis, right, of
Switzerland and Sania Mirza of India
greet the audience after beating Zheng
Saisai of China and Zarina Diyas of
Kazakhstan during the women's doubles
first round match at 2015 Wimbledon
Tennis Championships in London,
Britain, July 1.
Indian batsman Ambati
Rayudu, right, looks
on as Zimbabwe's
wicket keeper
Richmond Mutumbani
fails to take a catch
during their first One
Day International
cricket match in
Harare, July 10,
Leander Paes
In the first one,
Mirza and Hingis
broke their
opponents twice
out of four
opportunities which
was more than
enough to seal the
set in their favor
