Wimbledon 2009: Sorana Cirstea Puts Determination Over Friendship

It was a match between two of the best friends on the Tour. It was a match which surely had many male eyes remaining hooked on to the television set as 19-year old upcoming star Sorana Cirstea outgunned Sania Mirza 6-4, 6-4 in a battle of two glamdolls.

The bubbly Indian No. 1 Mirza shares a good rapport with the eye-catching Romanian No.1 player and was recently forced to borrow Cirstea’s outfit to wear on the first day at Wimbledon having run out of her limited supply of outfits.

But all such affability dissipated once they stepped on to Court No.12 and started pounding groundstrokes and their form which has seen a rapid surge of Sorana and a plummet of Sania in the rankings, got exposed gradually.

The 22-year-old Indian who had been awarded the ‘’Most Impressive Newcomer of the Year’’ by the WTA in 2005 and was touted to be possessing one of the most powerful forehands in the womens’ game, was once the hottest property of the Indian media.

But an injury-marred 2008 saw her recent dip in the rankings and consequently her struggle to get back some of her lost sheen and glory.

And that struggle was evident as the 85-ranked Indian searched desperately for the perfect serve with a harrowing 53 percent first serves in and coupled with a gentle second serve which contributed to six doubles faults, Mirza dig her own grave.

The match began with decent point construction from both players with accurate footwork but a double fault by Sania gave Sorana the chance to draw first blood and go 3-2 up.

Aided by some booming serves and some heavy groundstrokes, Sorana managed to hold on to the chance and despite pressure from Sania with her laser-sharp forehands, the 28th seeded Romanian ultimately managed to win the first set.

The topsy-turvy second set saw more of a contest of grit and determination as Sorana managed to break Sania in the very first game to get a decisive lead.

But refused to be bogged down, the Hyderabadi started putting more first serves in and attacking the Bucharest-born teenager with smashing returns from the baseline, some smart angles and a few superb volleys which saw her win three games on the trot and go up 3-1.

But the confident Romanian, who reached the quarter-finals of the French Open this year had too much resilience and tenacity and under continuous pressure with a faulty serve, Mirza gave the break back at 3-3 and parity was restored.

And that determination ultimately proved too much for Mirza, as she failed to withstand Cirstea’s barrage of groundstrokes and her brilliant retrieving and eventually put a cross-court forehand just long to hand over the match to her friend.

It was a match bereft of the slice or fine volleys usually associated with grass-court tennis much to the dismay of any tennis fan.

Mirza can now hope to salvage some pride from her doubles outing having entered the event with Mahesh Bhupathi in mixed doubles with whom she won the Australian Open and Chia Jung-Chuang in the ladies’ doubles with whom she won the MPS title this year.

The vivacious Cirstea now goes to on to meet the dangerous Belarussian Victoria Azarenka who’s a member of the grunting club (but at least bearable to the extent that she doesn’t blow off the ear-drum!)

The feisty Azarenka has been in ruthless form lately and her double-bagelling of Ioana Raluca Olaru in the second round and her status of being the bookmakers’ third favourite, should give enough reason to Cirstea to worry about.

Riding on the confidence of having won three titles this year and having reached the French Open quarterfinals, the eighth seeded Belarussian might just prove to have enough power in herself to outclass the Romanian in an exciting battle of two prodigious talents.