Sania out of Tashkent Open first round

TASHKENT - India’s Sania Mirza blew two match points to go down 1-6, 6-4, 5-7 against the 175th-ranked Russia’s Ekaterina Bychkova in the first round of the Tashkent Open tennis here Tuesday.

Sania, partnering Marai Elena Camerin of Italy, will start her doubles campaign here Wednesday.

Sania, ranked 125, and fresh from her doubles win at Guangzhou, arrived here late Monday night.

Watched by husband Shoaib Malik, the 23-year-old Indian looked rusty in the first set, going down in less than 30 minutes.

She found her rhythm in the second set and rallied from 2-4 down to make it a set all. Bychkova also helped her cause by committing five double faults.

In the decider, Sania swiftly moved to a 5-2 lead. She had two match points in the 11th game despite dropping serve in the eighth but failed to take advantage of this.

Bychkova then broke Sania in 10th and the 12th games to take the set and the match. In in the 12th game, Sania had an oppurtunity to force a tiebreak but instead she served two double faults.

Bychkova had earlier defeated Sania at Bali in 2005.