Mixed luck: Sania wins doubles, out in singles

New York, Sept 1 (UNI) Unfazed by her early exit in the singles, Sania Mirza bounced back hard as she and her South African partner Liezel Huber demolished an all American pair of Neha Uberoi and Angel Haynes with consummate ease in the opening round of the doubles event at the US Open here.

The 11th seed Indo-South African pair toyed with their opponents before tossing them out 6-4, 6-0 in no time.

Indian-born Neha and Angela gave some resistance to their fancied rivals in the first set but Sania-Liezel were in no mood to make concession as they pocketed the first set 6-4.

They now take on Franco-Spanish pair of Stephanie Cohen-Aloro and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the next round.

The second set proved to be horribly lop-sided affair as the American duo virtually surrendered before the Indo-Protea juggernaut. Sania-Liezel did not lose a single game to take the set and the match.

Earlier, Sania Mirza started with a bang but ended with a whimper as the Indian teenager squandered one set advantage against 14th seed Fransesco Schiavone of Italy to make a round two exit in the singles event.

Sania, who's been faltering at the second hurdle with uncanny consistency this year, showed flashes of brilliance only to fizzle out in the end as she lost to Italian 7-5, 1-6, 2-6 in two hours 20 minutes.

The Hyderabadi girl looked in supreme control and gave her fancied peer some jitters as she raced away with a 4-1 lead in the opening set. However, Sania -- as only she could -- hit the trough when she appeared peaking and allowed Schiavone crawl back to take a 5-4 lead.

Sania held her serve and broke her opponent to take a lead once again. Serving for the set she gained three set points and then pocketed the set to go one up.

There was role reversal in the second set, only the Italian played her part slightly better and bounced back to decimate an out-of-sorts 6-1. With the momentum on her side, Schiavone tightened the noose to clinch the issue 6-2.

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