By IANS,
Vancouver: India’s Sania Mirza overcame a stiff resistance from American qualifier Mallory Cecil 6-4, 7-5 to move into the women’s singles second round of $175,000 Oldum Brown Vancouver Open here.
Prakash Amritraj, however, crashed out in the second round, losing 4-6, 1-6 to former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis.
Sania will face American Laura Granville, who came through a tight three-setter against Japanese Aiko Nakamura, who retired midway (2-6, 6-3, 3-4) after spraining her knee.
Amritraj, who had beaten Croat Ivan Dodig in the first round, was on the backfoot right from the start as comeback man Baghdatis raced to a 3-1 lead in the opening set.
The Indian was again broken in his opening service game in the second set and was down 0-2. The Cypriot faced no difficulty in closing out the tie from there.
Amritraj also lost in the doubles. He and Pakistan’s Aisam ul Haq Qureshi, seeded third, went down to Korean Kyu Tae and Marinko Matosevic of Australia 2-6, 2-6.
It was the end for other Indians in doubles as well. Harsh Mankad and David Martin of USA lost to Amir Hadad and Harel Levy of Israel 6-7 (7), 2-6. Rajeev Ram (US) and Stephen Amritraj went down to South African Kevin Anderson and Rik De Voest 3-6, 2-6.