PATTAYA : India's Sania Mirza twice came from behind to upset third-seeded Mara Santangelo 6-4, 7-6(4) and reach the semifinals of the Pattaya Open on Friday.
There were also victories for unseeded Sybille Bammer of Austria, who won a marathon battle against Martina Sucha, fourth seed Peng Shuai, who beat Israel's Tzipora Obziler 6-3, 6-2, and sixth seed Gisela Dulko of Argentina, who ended the run of Australia's Nicole Pratt 6-2, 6-3.
Sania made an appalling start against Santangelo, dropping her first two service games with double-faults. In contrast, her Italian opponent served well and followed up with strong groundstrokes to take a 4-1 lead before Sania finally gained a foothold.
Backhand error
With Santangelo failing to maintain the momentum, Sania fought back to 4-4 and then broke to lead 5-4 when a strong return forced Santangelo into a backhand error. Sania then closed out the set with an ace.
The second set was as closely contested as the first, with Santangelo breaking to lead 5-3 but then dropping her serve to love. Sania then went on to claim the tiebreak 7-4.
``It was the first time I had played her in singles or doubles and I was just trying to figure how she plays and get my rhythm,'' said Sania.
``It took me a little time, but I felt much better on the court and was moving better than a couple of days ago.
``I had a little serve trouble but thankfully I got the serves when I needed them. Both sets I was down, but I felt I started playing better when I was down. She has a really big serve but I started returning better, and that was a key in the tiebreak I think.''
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