Sania pulls out of Aegon International singles qualifers
By IANSMonday, June 15, 2009
EASTBOURNE - India’s Sania Mirza has retired from the first round of the singles qualifying event of the $600,000 Aegon International tennis due to a right hip strain.
Sania, playing less than a day after her semifinal loss to Magdalena Rybarikova at the Aegon Classic, pulled out when trailing 4-6, 2-3 against Belarussian Tatiana Poutchek, who was called up as an alternate to play in place of Alexandra Dulgheru who withdrew due to a sprained ankle.
Sania led 2-0 in the second set after losing the first before Poutchek won three games on trot to nose ahead for a 3-2 lead. It was then the Indian decided to concede the match.
Sania and Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei are slated to meet fourth-seeded Australians Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs in the first round of the doubles event. It was not immediately clear whether Sania would play.
In the men’s doubles, the French Open doubles pair of Leander Paes and Czech Lukas Dlouhy are top seeded and will play Polish pair Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas are seeded second and will open against Australian Stephen Huss and Briton Ross Hutchins.
