Sania bows out of France WTA event

Sania Mirza's preparations for the French Open were hurt as she suffered first round defeats in the singles and doubles events of a WTA tournament in Strasbourg.

In the singles on Tuesday, the Indian ace fought hard but lost 4-6, 6-4, 1-6 to local wild card Alize Cornet after 124 minutes, in the opening round of the US $220,000 clay-court event.

In Monday's doubles match, Sania and her Czech partner Lucie Hradecka, the top seeds, lost a closely-fought first round match 7-5, 2-6, 10-12 to Germany's Angelique and Katarzyna Piter of Poland.

This is the last WTA tournament before the French Open commences at Roland Garros, in Paris, on Sunday.

In the singles match, Sania created four break chances in the first set but could convert just one. However, in the second she converted three of six.

But she lost steam in the decisive third set, in which she dropped serve thrice.