Monday, September 5 2005 11:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: Indian tennis' Cinderella Sania Mirza saw her amazing run at the US Open Grand Slam come to an end as she bowed to the might of number one seed Maria Sharapova of Russian in the women's singles fourth round in New York yesterday (September 4, 2005).

The 18-year old India put up a brave performance while going down 2-6 1-6 to the 2004 Wimbledon champion in 59 minutes at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The scoreline bore no indication of the tough fight put up by Sania who proved in that one hour on court that she had it in her to fight it out the top players on the biggest stage.

Sania's powerful hitting often caught Sharapova breathless, the pace and depth of her strokes troubling the Russian great deal.

Crucially, it was her backhand with sharp angles that posed problems for her opponent who occupied the world number one spot a week ago.

Sania's best moment came when she clinched a long rally to avert a second breakpoint in the sixth game of the first set, which should be the point of the match.

But Sharapova showed it is not just her attractive looks that downs the opponent but her tennis too.

Sharapova adjusted to Sania's pace quickly and her intensity proved too hot to handle for the Indian.

Once she wriggled out of a triple breakpoint situation in the seventh game of the first set, Sharapova pulled away with ease.

For Sania, it was neither the abdominal strain nor the foot blisters but her weak second serve that proved to be her undoing.

She cut down on her unforced errors but there was unhealthy number of doublefaults. And against a superior opponent, it proved costly.

Sharapova gained her first break when Sania committed three doublefaults in the fourth game.

The Indian escaped a 15-40 situation, firing an 109 mph service winner complimented by a backhand error from her opponent.

But a doublefault undid an Advantage situation and she served another one to hand Sharapova the lead.

Two wide backhands saw Sharapova face a 15-40 situation on her own serve in the next game. She dropped on serve with a long forehand on the second breakpoint.

But the inexperience showed on Sania when she committed a series of unforced errors and let the Russian off the hook in the next game.

She saved the first breakpoint with a volley winner and handled a high intensity rally with aplomb to avert the second.

But another breakpoint proved too much for her and Sharapova pounded her second serve to wrest back the lead.

Trying to make up for the loss, Sania produced two stunning backhand winners on either side of the court. Add a backhand error from Sharapova herself, it was 0-40.

But the top seed came up with her best with her back against the wall. An ace followed by Sania forehand into the net helped her wriggle out of the situation.

After serving out the set comfortably, Sharapova went ahead 3-1 in the second when Sania made two more double faults in the fourth game.

The Indian put up a gutsy effort to save four breakpoints but buried a backhand into the net on the fifth breakpoint.

Three successive aces by Sharapova to take the fifth game silenced the Indian supporters.

The six-foot one-inch tall Russian stepped on the gas as she dominated Sania's next serving game as when she played a perfect lob to set up breakpoint.

The Hyderabadi obliged when her uncontrolled forehand went out.