Sania Mirza during practice at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Sunday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: Coincidence really. What else would explain the coming together of Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and world No. 9 Martina Hingis in South East Asia’s biggest tennis spectacle that gets underway from Monday?

The WTA Sunfeast Open at the Netaji Indoor Stadium is in its second year. But the $175,000 Tier III tournament is already of immense significance for Sania and Martina, both of whom would look to re-establish their superiority in the cutting edge world of women’s tennis and in the process, tame a few inner demons as well.

Sania finally tiptoed into the city late on Saturday, after the organisers went out of their way to keep the media at bay, releasing misleading information about her arrival. She however, took to the courts during an early morning practice session on Sunday with local boys Vinod Sewa, Manoj Sewa and Akshay Bajoria, and an extended stint in the evening.

The Indian star has had a forgettable 2006 so far. Second-round exit at the US Open by Francesca Schiavone of Italy in three sets means the world No. 70 would be keen to prove that she is far from being just a sponsor’s delight. Sania appears to be at the crossroads of her career. The glamour girl of Indian tennis, who turned pro in 2003 and by October 10, 2005 reached a career-high ranking of 31 in singles, has been on a slide since.

Frequent changes of coaches, nagging injuries and mountain-high expectations of a billion-plus nation starved of true megastars meant that Sania was exposed to insurmountable amount of pressure at an early stage. It is showing. With the ranking that has now plummeted to No. 70, forcing her to be the fifth seed here (she was seeded third in the last edition) and recent comments such as “I don’t believe in rankings,” or “Grand Slam title is not my goal”.

The darling of Indian tennis has a favourable draw, though, slated to kick off against qualifier Rushmi Chakravarthy with a possible meeting with fourth seed Aravane Rezai in quarters, and a lip-smacking showdown with Martina in the last four, if all goes according to expectations, that is.

Martina, in contrast, will have to be on the ball from the word ‘go’, facing a comparatively tougher opener against Melinda Czink, who took the fizz out of the competition beating crowd-favourite Sania last year.

The former world No.1, who shot to instant stardom in 1996, bagging the Wimbledon doubles title as the youngest player in 15 years and nine months, shot up to world No. 1 by June 8, 1998. Several injuries, lack of focus and an early retirement at the age of 22 later, the Swiss Miss is now on her second comeback trail.

Starting off 2006 as an unranked player thanks to her long hiatus, Martina reached the semi-finals of the Gold Coast meet, but her Grand Slam performance has been erratic. Making it to the quarter finals of the Australian and French Open to begin with, Martina lost the cue in Wimbledon (third-round exit) and US Open, where she was ousted in the second round. The battle to reclaim the No. 1 spot, then, will begin here.

US-born Sunitha Rao and and Uzbekistan’s Iroda Tulyaganova would also fight their comeback battles.

Sunitha, who’s coming off an injury-induced layoff, will face a tough test against seventh seed Nicole Pratt, though. The talented Iroda, who from a career-high ranking of No. 16 in 2002 has crashed to 346 owing to injury, is through to the main draw and will also begin her quest for lost glory. The showdown between unseeded Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand and sixth seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia on the Centre Court at 1 pm would kick off the proceedings.

Court I, simultaneously, would witness the clash between Tzipora Obziler from Israel and Yulia Beygelzimer of Ukraine. The day’s best match, though, would start a little later, Martina taking on Melinda Czink at 7.30 pm. Unseeded Ankita Bhambri of India faces fourth seed Aravane Rezai in the day’s last match.

In doubles draw that was released on Sunday, the deadly combination of Sania Mirza and Liezel Huber of South Africa would look for a thumping win over Indian challengers Ragini Vimal and Archana Venkatraman. The top seeds should face their first real challenge in semi-finals, a possible meeting against fourth seed Hana Sromova and Angelique Widjaja, the Czech-Indonesian pair.

The second seeds Nicole Pratt and Anastassia Rodionova, similarly, face their first real challenge against third seeds Yulia Beygelzimer and Yuliana Fedak, but not before the semi-finals.

The Greensets are set, the battlelines are drawn. Will this mark the return of Sania Mirza?

Watch this space.

MONDAY’S MATCHES

Centre Court: Tamarine Tanasugarn vs Kaia Kanepi (1.00 pm), followed by Tatiana Poutchek vs Anne Keothavong, followed by Abigail Spears vs Akgul Amanmuradova; Martina Hingis vs Melinda Czink (7.30 pm) followed by Aravane Rezai vs Ankita Bhambri.

Court I: Tzipora Oblizer vs Yulia Beygelzimer (1.00 pm), followed by Yulia Beygelzimer/Yuliana Fedak vs Isha Lakhani/Sandhya Nagaraj (not before 4.00 pm).