Sania wards off Slovakian scare, enters rd 2 at Bangalore Open

Bangalore, Feb 14 (UNI) Sania Mirza beat Martina Sucha of Slovakia 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to enter the second round of the Sony Ericsson International WTA Tennis tournament at KSLTA stadium here today.

The world number 46 Indian overcame an indifferent show in the second set to go past Sucha after a tough battle.

Sania fought for over two hours to quell the resistance from the Slovakian, who hit back in the second set taking full advantage of the Indian's four double faults and inconsistent return of serves.

Sania, however, braced herself up and broke her 94th ranked opponent twice to book her berth in the second round.

The decider, lasted more than 60 minutes but Sania prevailed in the tough battle to wrap up the final game after earning three break points using her strong forehand winners.

''After Pattaya Open I wanted to change my game plan and it is paying. As I was telling earlier, I am concentrating on each point and each game and each set and this helped me win today,'' Sania said after the match.

''I was really under pressure after she won the second set, but I thankfully I could force her to commit mistakes,'' she added.

In another important match, top seed Mara Santangelo thrashed Shengnan Sun of China 6-2, 7-6(4).

Meanwhile, Seeded players continued to fall as third seed Bardina Vasillsa of Russia and eighth seed Brianti Alberta of Italy were ousted in the first round.

(Eds: pick up suitably from earlier series).

UNI