Sania ropes in Spanish coach for French Open

NEW DELHI, May 23: Sania Mirza has roped in reputed Spanish coach Gabriel Urpi to help in her campaign at the French Open starting on Sunday.
Sania will be guided on a temporary basis during the Grand Slam fortnight by Urpi, a former ATP Tour player who worked with women's singles champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and currently tied up with WTA players Flavia Pannetta and Virginia Ruano Pascual, who has 37 doubles titles to her credit.
The last time Sania sought guidance from a renowned coach was from the legendary Tony Roche before the start of 2006 season.
Meanwhile, the Indian fans would have to wait for a while to see Sania pair up with Mahesh Bhupathi on the Grand Slam stage.
The combined doubles ranking of the two players -- Sania is currently ranked 37th and Bhupathi 23rd -- is unlikely to get them into the main draw of the mixed doubles for which the cut-off is expected to be around 56.
"But they definitely hope to play together in Wimbledon," Sania's father Imran Mirza said.
In the doubles at Roland Garros, Sania will partner Eva Birnerova of Russia.
Eva will be the 20-year-old Indian's third partner in as many tournaments since she returned to the courts after a two-and-half-month-long lay-off following a knee injury.
"Having been out of the circuit for long, Sania had to really scout around for a partner," Imran said.
The Hyderabadi girl won her fourth career doubles title, and her first ever outside India, when she clinched the Morocco Open crown with American Vania King at Fes last week.
Imran said although Sania had recovered satisfactorily from the ligament rupture, she was yet to achieve her full strength.
"Heath Matthews (trainer) is very happy with her progress but feels she needs six more weeks to work more aggressively on adding to her speed," he said.