Sania storms into final

Indian teen sensation Sania Mirza cruised into the women's singles final in the Asian Tennis Championships, beating eighth seed Napaporn Tongsalee of Thailand 6-2, 6-4 at the Tashkent Tennis Centre on Saturday.

She will take on China's second seed Na Li.

Ranked 192 on the WTA computer, Na Li struggled to beat Japan's fourth seed Ryoko Fuda 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-3 in the other semi-final.

The 17-year-old Sania is one match away from creating Indian tennis history. If she wins the final, she will get a wild card for the Australian Open 2005, which will make her the youngest Indian woman ever in the Open era to play a Grand Slam main draw match in the senior event.

In 1998, India's Nirupama Vaidyanathan become the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam main draw match in the Open era at the Australian Open. She beat the then world Number 89 Gloria Pizzichini of Italy in the first round and lost in the second round to Poland's Magdalena Grzybowska.

The seventh seeded Sania, who had upset top seed Mia-Ra Jeon of Korea in the quarter-finals, dominated Saturday's semi-final, slamming the ball with extraordinary power and getting a high percentage of first serves in. Training with Boris Becker's former coach Bob Brett in Italy has clearly taken her game and fitness to another league. She now leans back nicely on her serve wind-up and transfers all her body weight into the follow through in one smooth action, with devastating effect.

Sania dropped just two service games in the match and served up three aces, all on break–point down. She was 1-3 down in the second set but never slowed down. She kept hitting the ball harder and seemed to get stronger as the match progressed.

"Insha-allah (God willing), I'll win the final. I'm in great form and haven't played this well in months,'' Mirza said after her victory.

The men's final will be contested by Pakistan's 24-year-old Aisam-Ul Haq Qureshi and top seed Yeu Tzuoo Wang of Taipei, who stopped Kuwait's giant-killer Mohammed Al-Ghareeb, winning his semi-final 6-1, 7-5.

Second seed Qureshi rallied from the brink to beat China's Peng Sun in the other semi-final.

Playing his first tournament after a six-week injury layoff, Qureshi came back from match-point down to win 7-6(10), 6-3, 7-6(3).

Serving an ace down the middle at 30-40, 4-5 down in the third set, Qureshi, who is hoping to become Pakistan's first ever player to enter a Grand Slam main draw if he wins the final, gave his huge fan club at the Tashkent Tennis Centre some nervous moments before coming through in the final set tie-break.

"Every time it seems like it's all over, I hum my favourite song. And then nothing seems impossible. That's how I served that ace at match-point down," the 205-ranked Qureshi said after his victory, talking about a Sufi song he hummed when all seemed over for him.

The men's and women's singles winners at the Asian Championships get a wild card to play in the main draw of the Australian Open 2005, the first Grand Slam on the international tennis calendar.

"I've come here to win the tournament and take back that wild card. If I don't win it, this whole week will be a waste," Qureshi said.

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