Sania crashes out in first round

Straight-sets loss for Indian tennis ace in Madrid Masters.

MADRID: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza was sent packing from the Madrid Masters after a first-round loss to Russia’s Elena Vesnina.

Mirza went down 6-4, 6-3 without posing any threat to her opponent in a match lasting over an hour. However, the Indian will pair up with Vesnina to face the Czech pair of Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the doubles match of the Madrid Masters.

Meanwhile, China’s Li Na survived a late fightback from Spain’s Maria Martinez Sanchez as the Asian ace moved into the second round of the tournament after a 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) win.

Li, who ended a five-match losing streak only days ago in Stuttgart, was comfortably up a set and serving for victory when the home player made her move. Martinez Sanchez managed to take the struggle into a tiebreaker, where Li finally restored order with the victory.

Li next plays Iveta Benesova, who defeated fellow Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-3, 6-2.

In other matches, Russian Alisa Kleybanova defeated ninth-seed Shahar Peer 6-3, 6-2 and Italy’s Roberta Vinci beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 6-4, 6-0.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2011.