Zvonareva takes on Mirza in Pattaya final, Tammy in doubles final

Barry Wood our regular columnist has flown the coop to spend a week in Dubai amongst the skyscrapers and exotic automobiles of the emirates. Despite his absence the show must go on and today’s report whilst lacking the sophistication of Barry Wood’s polished prose can at least convey the story of the day’s play.

The day started with an east-west confrontation, India’s Sania Mirza taking on Slovak Republic’s dark horse Magdalena Rybarikova. It had the makings of an intriguing contest, Mirza seeking a return to her past glories against Rybarikova who is seeking a move into the upper echelons of tennis. The match turned into a real battle it was not always pretty but it was enthralling for the crowd as the advantage swung one way and then the other. Mirza started off the quickest and making good use of her big forehand took the first set 6-4 and looked to have the match wrapped up in two sets when she led 5-3 in the second. At this point Rybarikova upped the tempo broke back and went onto take the set 7 – 5. The effort had taken its toll and she needed attention from the trainer for a back injury in the deciding set. The injury obviously hampered her movement and she went down 6-1, after exactly 2 hours of play giving Mirza her first final berth since Stamford in 2007.

In the 2nd semi-final top seed Vera Zvonareva was expected to be given a stern test by the resurgent Shahar Peer. Instead Zvonareva started off like an express train and raced to a 5-0 lead before Shahar Peer could get a game on the board. Zvonareva wrapped up the set 6-1. Peer finally settled into her rhythm in the 2nd set and the match went with serve until the 7th game when Zvonareva broke Peer’s resistance. Zvonareva whose serve was never under pressure throughout, wrapped up the set 6-4 and the match in just over one hour of play.

In the final match of the day, local favourite Tamarine Tanasugarn and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakstan took on the Indo-Italian pairing of Sania Mirza and Mara Santangelo. Much to the chagrin of the partisan crowd it was the Mirza and Santangelo who took first set 6-2. Tanasugarn and Shvedova got an early break in the 2nd set to go up 2-0, they consolidated the break in the seventh game and went on to take the set by 6 – 2. In the tie-breaker Tamarine and Shvedova prevailed to win 10 – 7 on their 3rd match point.