Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza suffer an early exit at Miami Open

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis suffered yet another early exit on the American hardcourts with the pair bowing out in the second round of the Miami Open at Key Biscane, Florida in straight sets. They were the defending champions for the women’s doubles crown.

The Indo-Swiss pair lost 4-6, 2-6 to Margarita Gasparyan and Monica Niculescu in a little over an hour’s time.

Hingis and Mirza erred massively on their first serve to land only 52% of their first serves in and consequently won just 13 of 29 points in this key department.

More significantly, ‘Santina’ were broken five times while the Russian and Romanian pairing were broken just twice.

Last week at Indian Wells too they exited after the second round. It has been a disappointing run of form ever since their 41-match streak was broken in Doha last month. There the World No.1 pairing lost in the quarter-finals.

indianexpress.com

Wonder what's happening with Sania's ground stroke game, she's usually so solid off that wing. 

Maybe losing that 41-match winning streak is effecting them subconsciously  more than they realize .  

Hopefully they can start to win a bit more on the clay, otherwise it's gonna be even harder for them to make a dent at the French Open in May.

Defending champs Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza advance to 2nd round at Miami Open

Miami: Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis clinched a facile opening win in the women's doubles draw but Rohan Bopanna was knocked out of the men's doubles event in the Miami Open tennis tournament.

Top seeds Mirza and Hingis took merely an hour to outplay Lara Arruabarrena of Spain and Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-0 6-4.

The Indo-Swiss pair will face either Monica Puig/Heather Watson or Vania King/Alla Kudryavtseva in the next round.

Mirza and Hingis are the defending champions as they overcame a sluggish start to take the title with a 7-5 6-1 scoreline against second seeded Russian team of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina last year.

firstpost.com

Roger Federer pulls out of Miami Open with stomach bug

Roger Federer, who was slated to play his first match since the Australian Open semi-finals on Friday, has been forced to withdraw due to a stomach virus from the Miami Open presented by Itau. His second-round opponent Juan Martin del Potro faced lucky loser Horacio Zeballos instead.

“I am very sorry that I have to pull out of the Miami Open with a stomach virus,” said Federer, the 2005-06 champion. “I feel bad for the tournament and the fans as I have rarely ever had to withdraw at such short notice. I have not felt great for a few days and unfortunately it got worse in the last 24 hours. I was really excited to have my comeback in Miami but I am in no condition to play. I tried to warm up this morning but it was clear that I could not compete.”

“We were very excited to have Roger return to Miami this year and hope he feels better soon,” said Adam Barrett, Tournament Director. “Roger is a true legend of the game and has a huge following here in South Florida. We look forward to seeing him here next year.”

Federer is 8-2 on the year, finishing runner-up in Brisbane (l. to Raonic) and reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic). He underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in early February.

atpworldtour.com

Roger Federer opens up on knee surgery, and Miami Open

Roger Federer has given the first detailed account of his recent knee injury, surgery and rehab ahead of his opening-round match at the Miami Open. Federer revealed Thursday that the arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus was performed on his left knee. He also outlined how the freak injury happened just one day after his semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic at January’s Australian Open.

Federer is set to play his first tournament since the Open Friday in Miami, when he takes on former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who himself is on the comeback trail from wrist surgery.

Federer said that innocuous accident happened as he was running a bath for his twin daughters. As he turned from his right to his left and shifted his weight to his left foot, Federer felt something ‘click’ in his left knee. He continued with a planned family trip to the zoo even though his leg was swollen. Upon returning home to Switzerland he immediately had an MRI, which led to the February 3 surgery.

“I remember I turned, I felt my knee was funny, I turned back. That's when I heard a click,” Federer said. “I did feel that something was strange in my knee. Very simple movement, probably a movement I've done a million times in my life for sure.

“When I got the news that I had to have the operation I saw the pictures and talked to my doctor and knew that it was the only way out of this one. In the hospital, when I was about to go into the operating room, that’s when I got nervous and sad about it all. When I woke up and looked at my knee it was like ‘This doesn’t feel like my leg. I can’t believe I did the operation and I hope it will come back from here.’ That’s when I got scared.

“Then literally one day, two days later I had no more pain. I realised I could already move my leg again. You learn how to walk on crutches and all that, which I'd done once before in 2005 when I tore the ligaments in my foot…. . It's baby steps. Still at the same time you go from crutches to walking to running to jumping to sprinting. It's pretty incredible to see the progress I've been able to make in a short period of time.”

Federer was on crutches for 12 days and only resumed full training nine days ago. Despite missing key events in Rotterdam, Dubai and Indian Wells, Federer said that he savoured the extra time at home.

“It sounds weird, but I kind of enjoyed the process of improving every day. I had a positive mindset. We worked two to three times a day. We were in Switzerland for five straight weeks, which is rare for us to be in one place, especially our home for so long. Enjoyed everything about it… nothing to do other than rehabbing and spending time with the family. It was a really nice process. Never had any setbacks. That was very crucial that I'm here today.”

Federer will take a 15-5 FedEx ATP Head2Head record into his match with del Potro in their first meeting since 2013. Federer won the first six meetings in their rivalry before the Argentine claimed his career-changing US Open final win over the Swiss in 2009.

“I'm excited,” Federer said. “Anxious to find out how it's going to react, is it going to be different day-to-day, how is it going to feel after the match and so forth… I like Juan Martin. We've had good matches over the years, Paris, five sets twice, US Open obviously. It's nice to see him back. I haven't seen him play at all since he's been back, so I'm not quite sure what to expect, even though my coach went to see his match yesterday. At the end I'm going to focus on my own game tomorrow… managing my problems that I've had the last few months. Just also enjoy it out there. We're both in a similar situation. His injury was much, much greater. That's why I'm really pleased for him that he was able to find a way back onto the tour.”

atpworldtour.com

Roger Federer to play returning Juan Martin Del Potro in 2nd round of Miami Open

Juan Martin del Potro’s comeback continued in style on Wednesday night in Miami as the Argentinean eased past his compatriot Guido Pella, 6-0, 7-6(4) to set up an enticing second-round clash with Roger Federer.

Del Potro hammered six aces and saved the only two break points he faced to win his fifth match since returning in February at Delray Beach. 

Del Potro struck the ball solidly on serve and from the forehand side and mixed in mostly slice along with a sampling of two-handed backhands to keep Pella at bay. After getting blown off the court in the first, Pella had his chances in the second set. 

The 25-year-old had the only break point of the stanza and was on serve late in the tiebreaker, but made back-to-back errors to give Del Potro the victory in 88 minutes. The 27-year-old has now won seven straight against his compatriots dating back to a 2008 loss to David Nalbandian. Del Potro owns a 5-15 lifetime record against Federer (5-10 on hard courts). 

Federer, returning from knee surgery in late January, has not played a match since his loss to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals at Melbourne.

tennisnow.com

Roger Federer adds next week's Miami Open to his schedule

Roger Federer announced via Twitter—in his own, special, emoji-crazy way—that he’ll be playing the Miami Open next week. 

The tournament retweeted Federer's tweet and it was later confirmed by Swiss journalist Rene Stauffer. 

Speculation had surfaced that Federer might play the event when he posted pictures of himself playing on a hard court last week. 

The decision should be a boon for attendance for a once-prestigious event that has struggled to match up with the growing BNP Paribas Open.

tennisnow.com

Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza suffer first straight sets loss since summer of 2015 at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS: Defending champions Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis crashed out of the Indian Wells Masters after suffering a shock straight sets defeat in the women's doubles event here on Monday.

The top-seeded Indo-Swiss pair suffered a 7-6(7), 6-4 defeat at the hands of American-Russian duo of Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva in the second round contest that lasted one hour and 32 minutes.

This was Mirza and Hingis’ first straight-sets loss since the summer of 2015.

Mirza and Hingis’ 41-match winning streak came to a halt after they were beaten in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open last month.

newindiaexpress.com

Roger Federer action star

'Santina' make winning return to Indian Wells on their 1 year anniversary as a doubles duo

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis saw off the challenge of Australian team of Casey Dellacqua and Samantha Stosur to move to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.


The top seeded Indo-Swiss pair defeated their rivals 6-3, 7-5 in just 68 minutes in their opening round of the $6,844,139 hard court event.


Sania and Martina saved four of the six breakpoints they faced in the match and broke their rivals five times in the tight contest.


They next face local girl Vania King and Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva, who beat Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova 4-6, 6-3, 10-5.


- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/tennis/sania-mirza-martina-hingis-make-winning-start-in-the-californian-desert/#sthash.Azq4QPl7.dpuf

Indian Wells Santina-versary

Full Circle For Santina: Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza paired up for the very first time at last year's BNP Paribas Open, winning the event and prompting a 15-match winning streak through Miami and Charleston. The summer following their first Grand Slam victory at Wimbledon proved even more fruitful, taking Santina on a 41-match win streak that included nine titles and two more majors at the US Open and Australian Open.

That incredible run came to an end in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Total Open, three matches shy of tying the longest winning streak since 1990 - when Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova won 44 matches in a row - forcing Hingis and Mirza to celebrate their one year anniversary on a decidedly unexpected one-match losing streak.

Turning that around won't be an easy ask for the best team in the world; in a jam-packed draw, Santina are set to play a first round against Casey Dellacqua - the current World No.4 who reached the US Open final with Yaroslava Shvedova - and former No.1 Samantha Stosur. Also in their section are Elena Vesnina and Daria Kasatkina, the very team who beat them in Doha.

But bear in mind: Hingis and Mirza haven't done a whole lot of losing in the last 12 months; should they pass these early hurdles, they could easily catch fire once more and capture their fifth title of 2016.


wtatennis.com

Roger Federer's happy family

menstennisforums.com

Since Mr. Federer is still sidelined from tennis for the rest of March. Thought everyone would enjoy some pics of Federer being an awesome dad :).

Roger Federer takes in a Lakers game in L.A. with Tommy Haas

Taylor Fritz took in a Los Angeles Lakers game on Friday night, ahead of his ATP World Tour Masters 1000 debut next week at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. It was an ATP invasion at the Staples Center, with fellow stars Roger Federer, Tommy Haas and Milos Raonic also in attendance for the Lakers' 106-77 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

The Southern California native, who trains in nearby Carson, was given an exclusive tour of the facilities, including the locker room.

"It was so nice to check out the locker room and meet the players. I enjoyed the experience," Fritz told ATPWorldTour.com. "It was weird. All those guys were definitely bigger than me. Some of them towered over me. I felt so small.

"It's great to see some of those athletes taking an interest in tennis and what I do. That's amazing. I look up to those guys a lot."

Fritz had the opportunity to meet Lakers stars Roy Hibbert and Metta World Peace, along with head coach Byron Scott and ESPN broadcaster Mike Tirico. The youngest player in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, the 18 year old also had an unexpected encounter with Federer and Haas on the court.

"We talked about tennis, scheduling and what we're up to. I chatted a little about soccer with Federer. They're both really good guys. I definitely wasn't expecting to run into them."

Fritz was awarded a wild card into the Indian Wells main draw, where he will make his first appearance at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. Fellow American teen Frances Tiafoe was also given a wild card, along with Juan Martin del Potro, Rajeev Ram and Mackenzie McDonald.

atpworldtour.com