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Sania bags first senior title

February 02, 2004 20:48 IST
Last Updated: February 02, 2004 21:15 IST


India's tennis sensation Sania Mirza defeated third seed Cory Ann Avants of USA 6-2, 6-3 in the finals of the Boca Raton Classic Women's ITF tennis tournament at Florida, USA.

This is the seventh international title for the 17-year-old Wimbledon girls' doubles champion and the first in USA.

In a scintillating display of power tennis, unseeded Sania raised the level of her game to dislodge the highly rated American girl (282) to win the coveted title.

"The one month coaching stint at Italy has paid off," her father Imran Mirza said here expressing happiness on Sania's title win in USA.

Sania displayed her power packed play from the start depriving the American any room to come back winning the first set at 6-2 and the script was similar in the second set which she won 6-3.

The title gave Sania nine WTA points and with the help of 3.25 points, gathered by reaching quarter finals of the Chris Evert tournament last week, she should push her ranking from 461 to under 400 which would be a leap by over 60 places in the professional circuit.

Earlier, in the semi-finals, Sania upset Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-2, 7-6 with another strong showing.

Sania's brilliant forehand had a telling effect in the second set which was evenly poised as she won the tie break at 7-3 to avenge her 6-1, 6-2 defeat two years ago at Durban in the semi-finals of a juniors event.


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