Sania Mirza lone Indian
in second round

Wild card Sania Mirza became the lone Indian to progress to the singles second round on the opening day of the $25,000 ITF women's tennis tournament in Mumbai, crushing unseeded Olena Antypina of Ukraine 6-3, 6-3.

The other Indian wild card, national champion Isha Lakhani went down fighting to another unseeded player, Dominika Lauzarova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 5-7 in an hour and 29 minutes.

The third wild card, Ivanna Israilova of Uzbekistan drubbed Christina Zachariadou of Greece 6-1, 6-2.

Meanwhile, none of the three Indians who reached the final qualifying round could make it to the main draw.

Ankita Bhambri fought hard but bowed out 2-6, 6-3, 2-6 to Varana Marie Beller in an hour and 22 minutes while the other two, Preeti Rao and Radhika Tulpule, went down without a fight.

Preeti lost to Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 2-6, 2-6 while local girl Radhika lost to Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 1-6, 0-6.

Hyderabad-based Sania, who won three ITF titles in a row recently, was a picture of confidence against a hapless Olena. The Indian broke in the very first game of the match but lost the advantage when she dropped serve in the fourth.

However, she effected another break in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead and then sped away to win the set 6-3.

In the second set too, she forced two breaks to emerge an easy winner.

Other results:

Ipak Senoglu (Turkey) bt Natalia Dziamidzenka (Belarus) 6-4, 6-2; Napaoon Tongsalee (Thailand) bt Magda Mihalche (Romania) 6-4, 6-1; Ivana Israilova (Uzbekistan) bt Christina Zachriadou (Greece) 6-1, 6-2; Suchana Viratprasert (Malaysia) bt Chin-bee Khoo (Malaysia) 6-0, 6-0.