Melbourne: India's tennisicon Sania Mirza warded off the challenge of Ukranian Olga Savchuk to reach thewomen's singles second round of the Australian Open here today (Jan 16, 2007).

In a one-and-half-hour battle, Sania overcame Olga 6-3 7-5 to keep up theIndian hopes at the first Grand Slam of the season.

The 53rd ranked Indian ace banked on her experience to make the most of Olga'sdouble faults and unforced errors.

Olga helped Sania's cause in the first set by committing as many as six doublefaults. The Hyderabadi's ability to hold onto her serves and better game nearthe net also paid dividends as she cruised to bag the set in 44 minutes.

Sania was under pressure as the 102-ranked Olga fought back in the second setby minimising the double faults and giving the higher-ranked Indian a run forher money.

However, the Ukrainegirl's spiralling unforced errors let Sania off the hook.

Sania, who was broken once in the second set, made amends to break back twiceand wrap up the set in 46 minutes.

The 20-year-old Indian, basking in the glory of good shows in Asian Games,Hopman Cup and Hobart International meet, said with growing experience she hadbecome a better player now.

"I'm a more complete player these days, I believe I have more than when Iwas 30 in the world, I'm 53 now and I play much better tennis today than I didthen," she said after the match.