Sania Mirza wins
Philippines ITF tourney

Promising Indian youngster Sania Mirza won the prestigious $10,000 Union Cement ITF/PHI women's circuit tournament, beating I-Ting Wang of Chinese Taipe 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the final at Manila, in the Philippines, on Sunday.

The up-and-coming Hyderabadi lass, who was unseeded in the tournament, was 0-4 down in the second set, after losing the first tamely, but came back strongly to win the set and take the match into the decider.

In the third set too, she trailled 4-5, but rallied splendidly to win the set and match at 7-5.

The triumph saw her win her second successive ITF women's tournament. In the process, she also collected five valuable points to push her singles world ranking from 836 to 685.

Sania had defeated fourth seed Sonal Phadke of India 6-1, 6-3 in the first round; qualifier Diana Julianto of Indonesia 6-1, 6-4 in second; Kim Kilsdonk of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-1 in the quater-finals and ousted wildcard Ivanna Israilova of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-2 in semi-finals.

However, she went down in the doubles, partnering Radhika Tulpule. The Indian pair lost to Yan-Hua Dong/ Yao Zhang of Taipei 7-5, 6-7(8-6), 4-6 in the semi-finals.

The Indian pair, who won the first set and was leading 4-2 when the match was called off on Saturday because of rain, took time to settle down and surrendered the initiative when the match resumed on Sunday.