Friday, September 1 2006 11:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: Sania Mirza flatters to deceive once again as she bows out of the US Open women's singles with a three-set loss to Fransesco Schiavone of Italy in the second round here.

Much like her Wimbledon loss to Elena Dementieva, Sania starts strongly before fading out, losing 7-5 1-6 2-6 to the 14th seed in the year's final Grand Slam at the Flushing Meadows.

If anything, the Italian proves an even tougher nut to crack than Dementieva while taming Sania in two hours and 20 minutes to advance to the third round.

The first set is a seesaw battle, which sees Schiavone rally from being 1-4 down to go 5-4 up in the first set.

The Hyderabadi girl, however, holds her nerves to retain her serve for 5-5 and breaks her opponent in the next game by earning triple breakpoints.

Sania appears to be on a roll as she garners three set points and rounds off the set in style.

But the second set turns out to be a disaster.

Schiavone breaks Sania three times to mark a complete turn around in the match.

Sania has a break of her own but 14 unforced errors including three doublefaults undermines her chances.

An 80 percent first serve in that second set shows the Italian in regal form.

In the second game of the decider, Sania has five breakpoints but can take none of it.

That is symbolic of the Indian's play Thursday (31 Aug, 2006) as she converts only four of the 15 breakpoints that comes her way.