By IANS
Melbourne : India’s top tennis player Sania Mirza will face a tough challenge from American Venus Williams in the third round of the women’s singles in the Australian Open.
Sania moved into the third round Thursday with a three-set win over Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky while Venus Williams experienced ups and downs before beating Camille Pin of France 7-5, 6-4.
World No. 31 Sania won 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 in one hour and 44 minutes. She prevailed despite committing six double faults, though her first serve was quite successful when she got them in.
The Hyderabadi girl won 35 points out of 52 on her first serve for a 67 percent success rate. Her win in the second round will give her a major boost after her recovery from a breakdown due to off-court dramas raging back home.
“I’m very pleased to be winning a match like this today because a lot has been happening in the last couple of weeks off the court,” said Sania, who served 18 winners in comparison to 20 by her opponent.
“I was down 3-1 30-30 (in the final set) and I could have said I was just mentally not there – it would have been a good excuse – but I proved I am strong and hopefully I can continue to do that.”
Sania had been under fire due to criminal cases filed after she was photographed with her bare foot close to an Indian flag bunting at the Hopman Cup in Perth.
The picture unleashed a firestorm, with ultra-nationalists filing suit against the 21-year-old under a law prohibiting any insult to the national tricolour.
Sania has earlier drawn criticism from the Islamic right for playing in short skirts and sleeveless tops and for appearing in a car advertisement shot near a mosque.