Sports World - Tantalising Opinions

The Gisela Dulko syndrome continued to haunt Sania Mirza as the Indian number one fell to her Argentinian nemesis in the first round of the Kremlin Cup on Tuesday.

The 6-3, 6-4 defeat at Moscow’s Olympic Stadium was Mirza’s third straight loss to Dulko in WTA tour meetings. And she hasn’t been able to take a set off the 41st-ranked player yet.

Though Mirza had a better first serve percentage than Dulko at Moscow (63 to 58), she also committed nine doublefaults, which ultimately proved too costly in the 85-minute match.

The loss was Mirza’s 18th out of a total of 48 matches on the WTA Tour this year.

Mirza had lost to Italy’s Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open last week in only her third match since the US Open.

But the 20-year-old had better luck in the evening at the Moscow doubles event, where she partnered Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder to easily beat Vera Dushevina of Russia and Tatiana Perebiynis of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3 in less than an hour.

In the quarterfinals, Mirza and Schnyder will be pitted against top seeds Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Liezel Huber of the US.

There is hope yet as Mirza, ranked 20th in doubles, had beaten the world’s best pair in the New Haven final in August - in partnership with Italy’s Mara Santangelo.

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The way we react to results of cricket matches indicates whether we are just fans or lunatics or extremists. Our reaction has always been temperamental. No wonder Rahul Dravid quit as captain and Dhoni’s family declined to join in the celebrations!!!!!

THE RECEPTION accorded to the Indian Cricket Team after it won the Twenty20 World Cup was unbelievable. The team deserved it because we won an international trophy after a gap of 21 long years. But the huge number of fans that gathered in Mumbai to receive the team and the celebrations that followed across the country set me thinking – are we just cricket fans or lunatics or extremists? Are we the same people who performed the Indian team’s last rites after its debacle in the Caribbean? Are we the same people who stoned Dhoni’s house in Ranchi? Are we the same people who wrote Irfan Pathan off and gave the verdict that Virender Sehwag’s days as a cricketer were over? Yes we are. But in one fell swoop, everything is right again.

Dhoni can do nothing wrong now. Irfan is a star again and Harbhajan, a loser until a few weeks ago, has redeemed himself. Money and rewards are flowing in like anything. For three days, cricket hogged the limelight in the media, be it the print media or electronic media. Cricketers had become “God.”

But I wish that the youngsters did not become complacent after the frenzied welcome they received. A couple of more losses to Australia in the ongoing series will make them demons yet again. The clamour for sacking a few players will arise again and the same fans and media will lead the charge. Why? We are a nation of cricket extremists. No wonder Rahul Dravid quit as captain.

This schizophrenic behaviour on the part of the Indian fan is enough to dismantle the toughest wall. Dhoni’s family perhaps realised this and therefore declined to join in the celebrations outside their house. The crowd baying for their son’s blood a few months back was still fresh in their memory. So boys, we love you and your game. But just keep winning, alright. We can’t bear losses!

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Spain’s Albert Montanes put paid to the hopes of India’s Rohan Bopanna with a 7-6(5), 6-1 win in the first round of the ATP Stockholm Open.

Bopanna, who had entered the main draw as a lucky loser, squandered an impressive 4-1 lead in the first set to lose to the Spaniard in little more than an hour.

Montanes, a claycourter ranked 48th in the world, was expected to be a tough opponent so it was a surprise when the 252-ranked Bopanna broke him in the second game and the scoreboard soon read 4-1 in his favour.

But the Indian’s lead in the first set was wiped out when Montanes held serve twice and broke back in the seventh game.

At four games apiece, Bopanna served an ace - his first of the match. Both players then held their serves to take the set into the tiebreak.

Bopanna took the first point there but soon fell behind 4-6. He managed to save one setpoint but lost the next. Interestingly, Bopanna had won more points (39) compared to Montanes (37).

When the set slipped from his grasp, Bopanna’s confidence deflated, just as it had deserted him in his match against Peter Wessels in the qualifiers of the indoor tournament.

Montanes raced away to a 3-0 lead, breaking Bopanna’s serve in a game which went to deuce. Two games later, the Indian number one was down 0-40 on his own serve and Montanes broke him again lead 5-1. The Spaniard served for the match in the following game and won on the first of two matchpoints.

In the doubles event, Bopanna survives in partnership with Belgium’s Olivier Rochus. The duo had beaten Thomas Johansson of Sweden and Todd Perry of Australia 6-2,6-7(4),10-8 in a thrilling first round encounter on Sunday that lasted for an hour and 22 minutes.

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Thanks to last minute withdrawals, India’s Rohan Bopanna has managed to get a main draw spot at the ATP Stockholm Open despite losing in the qualifying rounds.

Bopanna and Max Mirnyi of Belarus have entered the singles draw as Lucky Losers after Tommy Robredo and Tomas Berdych pulled out of the indoor hardcourt tournament.

India’s number one singles player, currently ranked 252 on the ATP list, is slated to play Spain’s Albert Montanes in the first round on Monday. Bopanna would be playing the 48-ranked Montanes for the very first time on the ATP Tour.

The winner of that match will play either fourth seed Tommy Haas of Germany or Olivier Rochus of Belgium in the second round.

Earlier on Sunday, Peter Wessels of the Netherlands had beaten Bopanna 7-5, 6-2 in the second round of qualifying.

In the doubles event, Bopanna paired up with Rochus to beat Thomas Johansson of Sweden and Todd Perry of Australia 6-2,6-7(4),10-8 in a thrilling first round encounter that lasted for an hour and 22 minutes.

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The dream run of doubles specialist Mustafa Ghouse at the Ethias Trophy Challenger in Mons, Belgium ended with a semifinal defeat to an unheralded European duo.

Ghouse and his Australian partner Alun Jones went down fighting 6-7(7),6-2,10-6 to Poland’s Tomasz Bednarek and Slovakia’s Filip Polasek at the indoor event.

Ghouse, currently ranked 218 in the ATP doubles rankings and fourth in India, had achieved his highest career ranking of 131 in August this year and his performance at the Mons tournament is likely to see him back in the top 200.

Ghouse and Jones had beaten top seeds Yves Allegro of Switzerland and Kristof Vliegen of Belgium in the quarterfinals - by an impressive 6-3, 6-3 scoreline.

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