Tough road ahead of Sania in Bank of the West Classic

New Delhi, Jul 23 (UNI) Fresh from her season's best semi-final appearance in last week's Cincinnati Open , Sania Mirza will be looking forward to carry on her good show as she takes on Aki Morigami of Japan in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic which starts in Stanford, USA today.

However, the road ahead will not be a smooth one for the 20-year-old Hyderabadi girl because if she manages to get past the Cincinnati Open finalist in the first round, she might face the likes of sixth seeded Tatiana Golovin of France, Patty Schnyder of Switzerland and Wimbeldon finalist Marion Bartoli of France in the coming rounds of the 600,000 dollar Tier II tournament.

Meanwhile, in the doubles draw the third seed controversial Indo-Israeli duo of Sania and Shahar Peer will be up against 11th seed Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus and Anastacia Rodionova of Russia in the first round.

Sania, partnering Bethanie Mettack of US claimed her second doubles title of the year at Cincinnati last week.

UNI