Sania Mirza goes down fighting to Henin in opening round of Australian Open
By ANIMonday, January 17, 2011
MELBOURNE - Indian tennis star Sania Mirza went down fighting to former World No.1 Justine Henin in her first round match of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
Sania was overpowered by the seven-time Grand Slam champion 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Henin, the second favorite to win the year’s tournament after fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters, was playing her first official match since sustaining an elbow injury at Wimbledon.
The 28-year-old Belgian will now face Elena Baltacha in the second round.
Sania had earlier reached the third round of the tournament in 2007 and 2008, and had picked her first mixed-doubles Grand Slam title in 2009.
Partnering with Mahesh Bhupathi, she had won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open beating Nathalie Dechy (France) and Andy Ram (Israel) 6-3, 6-1 in the final. (ANI)
