Sania clears first hurdle
New York, Aug. 25: India’s Sania Mirza stormed into the second round of the US Open tennis women’s singles qualifiers with a facile 6-2, 6-2 victory over Russian Ksenia Lykina.
Sania next plays another 150th-ranked Russian Elena Bovina, who scored a fighting 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-1 upset win over 15th-seeded German Tatjana Malek.
This is the first time since 2005 that Sania has to play a qualifying round in a Grand Slam.
The 23-year-old Hyderabadi who married former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik earlier this year, was once ranked as high as 27. She has now slipped to 160th in the world.
Sania’s best performance here has been a singles fourth round appearance in 2005 and a doubles quarterfinal in 2007.
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