Another defeat : Sania out of French Open

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza crashed out of French Open women's singles event after losing in straight sets to Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva in Paris on Tuesday (May 26). Sania went down 4-6 6-7 (3) in a contest lasting a little over an hour and a half.

Sania, who has never gone beyond the second round at Roland Garros, had little match practice going into the clay court event. The Indian's rustiness was quite evident in the six double faults she committed in the very first set. Sania's failure to convert any of the four break points that she earned only added to her problems.

Voskoboeva converted a crucial break in the seventh game to clinch the first set in 46 minutes. Sania put up a slightly better show in the second set and cut down on her double faults but 14 unforced errors pulled her back. After losing her serve twice, Sania broke back to take the set into a tie-breaker.

But Voskoboeva, who had lost to Sania in their only past encounter, dominated the proceedings thereafter and clinched the tie-breaker 7-3. Sania is still in fray in the doubles event where she has teamed up with Taipei's Chia-Jung Chuang. Sania and Chuang, seeded 14th, will open their campaign against Turk-Belgian pair of Ipek Senoglu and Yanina Wickmayer.

Sania, who has not played much on clay this season, missed the French Open last year due to a chronic wrist injury that plagued her much of last year. She made a comeback in January and won the Australian Open mixed doubles title with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi. She went on to reach the final of the Pattaya Open in February but after that her performance graph came spiralling down with a series of early exits.

She recently participated in the Madrid Masters but failed to make it to the singles main draw after a straight loss to France's Aravane Rezai in the first round of the qualifying round. She, however, made it to the doubles semi-final with Chia-Jung Chuang. Sania has never moved beyond the second round of the French Open but then clay has never been her favourite surface.