Sania Mirza crashes out of WTA event Wednesday, July 26 2006 15:29 Hrs (IST) - World Time -
New Delhi:
Sania Mirza was shown the doors by little known Russian Vasilisa Bardina in straight sets in the first round of the USD 600,000 WTA event at Stanford, USA.
Sania crashed out of the Tier II hard court event 6-3, 6-2.
The 42-ranked Sania, who made it into the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open last week, lacked the desired consistency required once again and went down to Bardina.
She lost the first set without much of a fight and was swept aside in the second.
Bardina will play Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the second round, who received a bye in the first round.
Sania is partnering American Bethanie Mattek in doubles and will meet the Russian-Ukrainian pair of Alla Kudryavtseva and Tetiana Luzhanska in the first round.
US-based Shikha Oberoi and Yelena Jankovic beat top seed pair of Slovak Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-4 to sail into the second round of the doubles event.