Sania sails into second round of Pilot Pen Open

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New Haven, Connecticut, Aug 22 (UNI) Sania Mirza stormed her way into the second round of the 600,000 dollar Pilot Pen Open here, with a facile straight set win over Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues.

The 20-year-old Hyderabadi continued her superb run of form of late, and outclassed the 33rd ranked Medina 6-3, 6-3 to set up a clash against eight seed Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine, who defeated Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the opening round.

By virtue of her recent performances in the WTA circuit, Sania became the first Indian woman to enroll herself in the seeds list of any tennis major.

The 28th ranked Indian is seeded 26th in the upcoming US Open, the last Grand Slam of the season.

The only other Indian to feature in the seeds list was legend Ramanathan Krishnan, who was seeded fifth at the 1959 US Open, and fourth at Wimbledon in 1962.

Meanwhile, seeded third, Sania and her new partner Mara Santangelo of Italy will open their doubles campaign against the all American duo of Corina Morariu and Meghann Shaughnessy.

UNI