Solving the puzzle

Indian No. 32 seed Sania Mirza overcame a jittery performance combined with shoulder problems to beat experienced Colombian Catalina Castano 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-4.

Mirza is, of course, more than just a tennis player ranked on the fringes of the top 30. In India, she is a phenomenon, and though there is an old adage that says “all publicity is good publicity”, she would probably disagree.

She has had Muslim clerics bemoaning the length of her tennis skirts and controversy over not playing, and then finally playing, doubles with Israeli Shahar Peer. She was even threatened with prosecution over the “prevention of insults to national honour” act for having her feet on a table in close proximity to an Indian flag at a press conference. All this while trying to build on a fledgling career that saw her win the 2005 Hyderabad Open and reach No. 27 in the world last August.

Mirza’s Wimbledon outfit was suitably demure, shoulders covered, and the sizeable Indian contingent in the crowd seemed far more interested in her chances of progressing than the length of her skirt.

“She is the second Indian sportswoman of any note, after sprint medallist P.T. Usha,” explained one supporter who had brought his young son along with him. “She is taking women’s sport for Indians to a higher level. She’s an inspiration and a role model. She’s removing a blanket from over sports and helping others to play.”

The great and the good of Indian tennis were out in force to cheer Mirza on, including former player turned sports manager Mahesh Bhupathi and Sri Lankan umpire Asitha Attygala.

Sven Groeneveld, Mirza’s new coach, was also in attendance, and witnessed an up and down match from his new protégé.

Like the little girl with the little curl, when she was good, she was very very good – sending her opponent left and right and wrong-footing her with cross-court forehands. And when she was bad, she was downright terrible.

Her service was a lottery and featured double faults into double figures, and while she was painting the lines with a number of shots, it always seemed like it was more luck than judgment that they were landing in.

The first set featured four breaks evenly shared before Mirza took the tie-break by the scruff of the neck, and the second set was then one-way traffic – but not, however, in the direction that most would have expected. Castano broke to open, broke again and though Mirza earned a stay of execution by pulling it back to 2-5, the Colombian proceeded to break Mirza’s serve again to level matters at one set all. By this time the Indian had had a medical time-out and was receiving constant attention on her shoulders and upper rib cage at the changeovers.

The final set saw the “Vamos Cata!” and “Come on Sania!” elements of the crowd vying for supremacy as breaks were again carved out and then handed right back. Mirza pulled ahead, the forehands again kicking up chalk dust and she served for the match at 5-2, only to falter again and lose her serve for the seventh time in the match.

Second time lucky, she finally served out and will face a qualifer – Maria José Martinez Sanchez of Spain – in the second round.

At her past three Wimbledons, Mirza has been knocked out by Russian opponents – Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elene Dementieva and Nadia Petrova, respectively. This year, she seems to have been spared a similar fate as she cannot face a Russian until the round of 16, or more likely one of Dementieva, Dinara Safina or Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals.

If she can get that far then it certainly will be the tennis that people are talking about as opposed to any off-court matters.