India’s Sania Mirza slumped out of Wimbledon as Germany’s Angelique Kerber claimed a 6-4, 6-1 win in the first round of the women’s singles on Monday.
Kerber, ranked 54 in the world compared to Mirza’s mark of 111, was never troubled by the Indian, who was left to rue her continued poor form since returning from a wrist injury sustained in Dubai in February.
Mirza, who married Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik during her two-month break from the game, made the second round in the warm-up tournament in Birmingham, but failed to qualify for the final stages at Eastbourne and, after starting brightly here, she quickly faded towards another dispiriting defeat.
Mirza broke the German’s serve in the first game of the match but was broken twice herself as Kerber got a grip on the opening set.
The Indian then netted a simple backhand to go 4-5 down and did the same with a forehand in the following game to hand Kerber the first set after making 17 unforced errors, a total that rose to 31 by the end of the match.
Kerber stormed through the second set, which finished in 28 minutes, as the disparity between the serves of the two players counted against Mirza.
Mirza got less than half of her first serves in, whilst Kerber, boasted a figure of 74 per cent.
It is now sixth time in 17 Grand Slam appearances that Sania has failed to cross the first round hurdle. —AFP