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Sania Mirza escaped an early ouster, as she stumbled into the second round with a narrow win over Slovakia's Martina Sucha at the WTA Bangalore Open on Wednesday.
Coming off an impressive semi-final run in Pattaya last week, the Indian ace scored an unconvincing 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over the 27-year-old Slovak in the first round.
It wasn't the unveiling of the much-improved, faster off-the-court new Sania at the floodlit KLSTA courts. The 20-year-old, facing a 94-ranked opponent, fell into the old habit of going for too much and mixing up her slamming forehands with the trademark errors. The laidback Sucha, though, failed to match the Indian's firepower, and didn't have enough to make her pay for the errors.
"The nerves always play a role when you are playing at home," said Sania, after the hard-earned win.
"You know so many people have come to watch you. However much you try it, you cannot completely block it out."
The match got-off with the players trading the breaks of serve in the first two games. Sania looked in deep trouble with three break points down in the fourth game, but recovered well to win the game. Two double-faults from Sucha saw the Slovak drop the following game, and Sania taking a decisive 3-2 lead.
Umpires are to be seen and not heard. But the chair umpire, during this match, was heard loud and clear as she overruled one call after the other, much to the frustration of the players.
The Hyderabadi lass failed to serve the opening set out on the first attempt at 5-2, but a forehand return sailed long from Sucha in the 10th game to give Sania the set 6-4.
Sucha, looking sleepy between points, suddenly exploded into action during them. She has a solid backhand, and used it to good effect in the second set, and capitalised on the mistakes the Indian kept on committing. Sania fought back from a break down twice in the second set but could not hold on from there.
The Slovak denied Sania the break of serve in the ninth game and a poor service game from the Indian saw Sucha take the 10th game at love and level the match.
"I was always trying from behind in the second set. She had the confidence and the upperhand. She did try to play more to my backhand, and succeeded a lot in doing that," said Sania.
But the Indian stepped up her game in the third set. After a strong opening servive game, she raced off to a 4-1 lead. The Slovakian started fading out and Sania found a few balls right in the hitting zone. Though she again had trouble serving out the match, she finished off in style, striking a return backhand winner.
The second-seeded Indian will take on Tatiana Poutchek in the second round.
Top seed Mara Santangelo opened her title defence in style, beating China's Shengnan Sun 6-2, 7-6.
Japanese qualifier Yurika Sema continued to cut through the draw as she followed her high-profile scalp of fifth seed Yuliana Fedak on Tuesday with another tough second-round win.
Sema, ranked 236 in the world, beat Ukraine's Yulia Beygelzimer 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 to enter the quarter-finals.
With three seeds ousted on Wednesday, only four of the top-eight players remain in the tournament.
Third seed Vasilisa Bardina was knocked out 6-1, 6-2 by tenacious Israeli Tzipora Obziler in the second round.
Taiwan's Yung-Jan Chan, seeded sixth, and eighth seed Alberta Brianti fell in the first round itself.
Hungary's Melinda Czink took out Chan with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 win, while Alicia Molik of Australia knocked over Brianti 6-4, 6-3.
Results round 2: 4-Jelena Kostanic Tosic (Croatia) beat Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) 6-4, 6-1; Yurika Sema (Japan) beat Yulia Beygelzimer (Ukraine) 1-6, 6-4, 6-1; Tzipora Obziler (Israel) beat 3-Vasilisa Bardina (Russia) 6-1, 6-2.
Round 1: 2-Sania Mirza (India) beat Martina Sucha (Slovakia) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Melinda Czink (Hungary) beat 6-Yung-Jan Chan (Taiwan) 1-6, 7-5, 6-2; 1-Mara Santangelo (Italy) beat Shengnan Sun (China) 6-2, 7-6; Alicia Molik (Australia) beat 8-Alberta Brianti (Italy) 6-4, 6-3.
Doubles - Round 1: (3) Beyelzimer/Fedak (UKR/URK) beat Chen/Zhang (CHN/CHN) 7-6(7), 6-3; (4) Hsieh/Kudryavsteva (TPE/RUS) beat Chan/Yuan (TPE/CHN) 6-4, 6-0.