The lights in Netaji Indoor Stadium still shine. The stadium was renovated last year.

The tournament saw a lot of seeds upset early but ended with Martina Hingis winning the singles quite comfortably. She wasn’t stretched at any point in the tournament and was typical Hingis - winning using timing and placement rather than power.

The semi-final versus Mirza was the big attraction from the local point of view. However, the match disappointed at large. Mirza started off with a bit of promise considering her first serves were going in more often than not. However, the aspect where she missed out was going for the placement game versus Martina Hingis. 99 times out of 100, if you try to beat Hingis at her strength, you will end up second best.

Mirza played the waiting game instead of going for her shots - her main strength. When she did go the power route for a couple of games in the second set, she looked far more effective and looked like troubling Hingis, even if it was for a few points. The problem with the service showed up after a few games in the first set itself though and though there has been a marked improvement in Mirza’s service, more power and accuracy is still needed. Mirza did win the doubles as a consolation prize but as Hingis said, the promise is there for the future.

Over all, the tournament was dampening because many of the top seeds went out early. The novelty factor present in the inaugral Sunfeast Open wasn’t there as well. The tournament is still in it’s infancy and bringing Hingis to play in only the second year of the event is a huge achievement in itself.

The following are a few more pictures my friends and I took. Hope you like them:

The chair umpire checks that the measurements of the net, sidelines are perfect before the match starts.

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I have very good memories of the inaugral Sunfeast Open held in Calcutta last year. I visited most days and loved the international standard atmosphere Netaji Indoor Stadium provided. This year, I haven’t been able to go even once but the Sania Mirza versus Martina Hingis semi is not one to be missed and needless to say, I will be there and am looking forward to it.

Looking at their head to head, the only time they faced each other in Dubai earlier this year ended up in a close enouncter with Hingis prevailing 6-3 7-5. Since then, Hingis has had more exposure and she is deep into her come back now. The big wins haven’t come yet for Hingis and she is unlikely to be fazed by a loud Calcutta crowd. Mirza will have to go for the win rather than expect Hingis to hand the match to her via unforced errors.

Mirza has also left the ankle injury in the past. The injury had meant that she has had an ordinary year but things started looking up around the US Open. A few weeks ago, Mirza tried to reduce the hype around her and the negative attention the media was giving over her not improving in rankings saying that winning a grandslam wasn’t one of her primary goals. It is an intellegent strategy as expectations reduce to some degree and Mirza can focus on her game much more.

We do not know if Mirza is back to 100% fitness. However, she seems much improved of late. A WTA title to end the year will be just perfect to end what seems a disappointing year. However, people should not make too much out of 2006 for Mirza because of the injuries she had. She has made tremendous progress over all in her career if we look at the time period and the ranking she has achieved in the given period. 2007 should be a much better year where we will should see another marked improvement.

For now, I will just enjoy the tennis and hopefully witness a Mirza double win - in singles and doubles.

[CNN report]

The Laureus Sports Awards, commonly acknowledged as the sports oscars have been announced. Federer wins the award for a second consecutive time. Croatian skier Janica Kostelic is the women’s winner after a fourth Winter Olympic gold. Tennis dominates the awards list as Hingis takes the comeback of the year while Nadal takes the newcomer of the year.

For Federer to challenge for the title next year, I suspect he has to stride over some one whom he has never beaten on clay - and he says that he is ready.

Martina Hingis has won her first WTA title since her come back and it has been well deserved. It takes a brave person make a come back like Martina Hingis has done. Failure to win big titles will mean people questioning Hingis. For victories, battles have to be fought versus younger, faster legs.

Hingis has had a tough time in her come back. She was won matches but not titles. All the while though, she has kept up the tempo and kept on improving - the keenness she showed when she rose to the top has been ever present. Added to that is a positive attitude. For Hingis, this is a fairy tale as she probably never expected to play again. So she plays with lesser pressure, smiles more and thus plays much more freely while delivering her charecteristic strategic shot selection.

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