Sania upsets Peer, takes on Daniilidou next

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San Diego (California) Aug 1: Sania Mirza continued her superb form in the WTA circuit as she upset 12th seed and her doubles partner Shahar Peer of Israel in the first round of the Accura Classic here.

Coming straight from a breakthrough week in which she reached her first WTA Tour Tier II final in Stanford knocking off three top 25 players in succession, followed by a jump in the world rankings to her career-best 31st position, the 20-year-old Hyderabadi lass overpowered Peer 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the second round of the 1,340,000 dollar hardcourt event.

Looking tired after her run at Stanford, Sania pressed the action in the third set in an attempt to end the contest quickly.

''I didn't want to stay out there for much longer,'' Mirza told after the match.

''It was a long match and I needed to keep it shorter. She's my friend and doubles partner so that makes it especially hard, but I did what I needed to get through,'' she added.

The 31st ranked Indian will now take on Eleni Daniilidou of Greece in the next round.

Meanwhile, Indo-Israeli duo of Sania and Peer will be eyeing for their third consecutive doubles title here, as they take on German-Czech pair of Angelika Bachmann and Hana Sromova in the opening round.

UNI