Sania leads Indian challenge in Sony Ericsson WTA tennis

Bangalore, Feb 12 (UNI) Sania Mirza will lead the Indian challenge in the 175,000 Dollar Sony Ericsson WTA Tier III tournament, which begins at the KSLTA hard court here tomorrow.

The tournament had to be put off by a day to tomorrow in view of the Karnataka bandh called by various organisations in protest against the final verdict of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.

Sania, who had a semifinal finish in the Pattaya Open last week, arrived here last night, bringing relief to the organisers who were disappointed by the sudden withdrawal of Australian Open Champion Serena Williams at the last moment on health grounds.

Sania, mproved three places in her ranking due to her good showing in Pattaya and is now seeded world no 46 and the second seed in this tournament, behind defending champion Mara Santangelo of Italy. Sania will be confident-after taming Mara in the Pattaya open. She meets Martina Sucha of Slovakia in the first round clash.

Mara, with a world ranking of 38, would clash with qualifier Chin Wei Chan of Chinese Taipei in the first round.

The court had been refurbished for the tournament and painted in purple with the surroundings in green, as per WTA guidelines.

National champion Shikha Uberoi, junior national champion Tara Iyer and Sophie Ferguson of Australia have been given wild cards, while Nudnia Luangnam of Thailand, Shengnan Sun of China and Yurika Sema of Japan made it to the main draw through qualifying rounds.

UNI