Star of India through in two
Star of India through in two 
By Tim Clarke
Former Australian Captain December 31, 2006
ALREADY a star of India, Sania Mirza enhanced her growing reputation as one of Asia’s brightest tennis hopes today with a crushing two-set defeat of Czech teenager Lucie Safarova at the Hopman Cup.
Despite the third seeded Czech enjoying massive favouritism with the bookmakers, Mirza destroyed her more illustrious opponent in 54 minutes, galloping to a 6-2 6-2 win.
And if
the first day of this year’s mixed team event was marked by its battles of attrition, Mirza’s scintillating returns were great to watch and too good for the world No.42, who will want to forget her Hopman Cup debut.
Mirza said her recent good form at the Asian Games had put her in a good frame of mind for this week, and the Australian Open to follow.
“I felt great, I was hitting the ball pretty well and I hit the right shots at the right time,” Mirza said.
“My confidence levels are pretty high and this tournament is going to help me get better for the Australian Open.
“It is a great honour personally to represent my country and to be here. We are going to give whatever we have and, as far as the country is concerned, of course they are very excited that we can make it.”
A recent silver medal in the Asian Games singles, and gold in the mixed doubles sent Mirza to Perth in good form, and she immediately found her groundstroke rhythm against Safarova.
The 21-year-old from Hyderabad, already an icon for vast numbers of young women back home, would only have increased her fan base with some brilliant return winners, which at times left Safarova groping at thin air.
The Czech was able to win just 37 per cent of the points on her first serve - and five breaks of serve in a row by Mirza tells its own story.
After powering through the first set in 23 minutes, Mirza did not let up, her only blip a break against her when serving for the match at 5-1.
But it did not take long for her to atone, a forehand down the line - Mirza’s 18th clean winner of the match - broke Safarova for a sixth time and secured the win.
Continuing a run of firsts which has seen Mirza become the first Indian woman to make the third round of a grand slam, the first into the world top 50 and the first to win a WTA event, she marked India’s first Hopman Cup appearance with a first win.
And after a day of upsets yesterday, which saw No.1 seed Russia beaten by Australia and the defending champion America downed by replacement France, debutant India is now on course to continue the surprises.
World No.277 Rohan Bopanna, though, will have his work cut out against 13th ranked Tomas Berdych, who will want to avenge the defeat of Safarova, who also happens to be his girlfriend.
Agence France-Presse