Mara stopped at Miami, unable to get the better of Chakvetadze

Mara Santangelo wasn’t like the violinist Paganini.

After defeating the Serbian player Jelena Jankovic, world ranking no.9, the other day at the prestigious Miama tournament in three sets, coming back from 2-6  2-5, imposing herself at the tiebreak and then winning with 6-4, the world champion yielded to the world-ranking no. 11, the Russian Anna Chakvetadze.

The Italian practically handed the game over to the Russian in the first set, which lasted 21 minutes and closed at 6-1, resisted in the second with 5-5 but then allowed her rival to close the third game. A pity, because Mara seemed to have found an incredible pace in her encounter with Jankovic.

Just when everything seemed lost, Santangelo gave her best. In a match she will find difficult to forget, Mara succeeded in making good a disadvantage of 2-6 2-5 and reached the eighth-finals of the Miami tournament beating the number 7 of the series, Jelena Jankovic. "The secret? I never thought about the result, I just concentrated on my tennis. I made sure I expressed myself as well as possible. I was a bit tense at the beginning and it was hard to put my ideas into practice, but gradually as time went on I found my best tennis. And I’m very happy about this. I feel I have to thank for this victory all the staff who follow me, technical, physical and medical. I thank them because it is only due to them that I can enter the court in the best condition and without pain".

Now Mara will try to advance in the doubles, which she won at Pattaya this year with the Australian player Pratt, to finish in the finals alongside the Indian player Mirza: in the second Mara will play alongside the Australian Stewart against couple number 4 of the tournament, formed by the Czech Peschke and the Australian Stubbs.