Sania to meet Martina in first round

Bangalore, Feb 10 (UNI) Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza is expected to have a cakewalk as she is pitted against low ranked Martina Sucha of Slovakia in the first round of the US Dollar 175,000 Sony Ericsson WTA Tier-III tournament, to be played at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Kingfisher Court here from February 12.

The 20-year-old Sania, ranked 49 and seeded two, who had stormed into the semifinals of the 170,000 Dollar Pattaya Open yesterday, would be meeting 27-year-old Martina (ranked 98).

However, defending champion and first seed Mara Santangelo of Italy, ranked 38, should wait till tomorrow, when the qualifying matches would be completed, to know her opponent in the first round as she would meet a qualifier.

The main draw was picked by Karnataka Health Minister R Ashok on the portals of Vidhana Soudha, the State Secretariat.

Wild card entrant and National Champion Shikha Uberoi would lock horns with Yaroslava Shvedova of Russia, ranked 138, while teenaged former Junior Champion Tara Iyer would clash with Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, ranked 153.

Almost all the players have arrived and the main draw would begin in the refurbished court on February 12.

UNI