Sania advances to 2nd round of Australian Open

Melbourne, Jan 19 (PTI) Sania Mirza survived a late onslaught from world number 61 Marta Domachowhska to set up a second-round clash with Russian 10th seed Nadia Petrova in the women’s singles of the Australian Open, here today. The unseeded Indian battled past the Pole 6-1, 6-4 in the first round. Nadia beat Kazakhstan Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 7-6 (3) in her opening round match. Sania, playing her first singles match of the season after a long injury-lay off, was happy with her comeback match. “It was a great way to begin after such a long break. I’ve not played a match in
almost six months now. I’m just happy to have come through,” she said after the match. Sania raced away with the first set in just 25 minutes, breaking the Polish player thrice. The Indian led 2-0 in the second set before Marta stepped on the gas, winning four games on the trot, breaking Sania in the third and fifth games. From a comfortable 2-0, Sania found herself trailing 2-4 in no time. Under pressure, the 22-year-old Hyderabadi got her act together and went on to win the next four games to seal the issue. Sania broke Marta in the eighth and 10th games in the process. Sania had lost to Marta in 2003 in their first meeting and now the head-to-head record stands at 1-1. PTI