Sania makes a shocking first round exit from French Open

PARIS - Sania Mirza crashed out of French Open first round, losing 4-6, 6-7(3) to Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva at Roland Garros here Tuesday.

Sania, ranked 91, fought hard but failed to measure upto her 95th ranked opponent in their second meeting. The two are now levelled 1-1 and had previously met in hard courts of San Diego in 2005, where Sania had beaten Voskoboeva.

The 22-year-old Hyderabadi committed 10 double faults with a poor 27 per cent second serve in the 99-minute clash.

The Kazakh girl was quick to race ahead 4-2 after an early break in the first set and after couple of easy holds went 1-0 up. Sania had her opportunities but wasted four break points.

Voskoboeva began the second set in the same vein, breaking Sania’s serve in the very first game only to drop her’s in the second. The Kazakh then pulled one off in the seventh game for a 4-3 lead but Sania broke back in tenth to enforce a tie-break where Voskoboeva prevailed.

Sania will now compete in the doubles event, where she partnering Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei(Taiwan) will open against Turkey’s Ipek Senoglu and Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer.

Sania had missed the French Open last year due to a chronic wrist injury that sidelined her for much of last year. She hasn’t had much matches on clay this season though she participated in the Madrid Masters doubles after failing to make it to the singles main draw.

Sania has never moved beyond the second round of the French Open.