By IANS,
Melbourne : India’s campaign in the Australian Open singles came to an end with Sania Mirza crashing out of the women’s section with a 3-6, 2-6 loss at the hands of 10th seed Russian Nadia Petrova in the second round here Wednesday.
The Indian, who is making a comeback after undergoing a wrist injury, had to blame herself for the loss as she squandered crucial break points against the world No.11, who hardly left any room for errors.
The unseeded Indian did improve her ground strokes and made the Russian do some running around with some stunning double-handed backhand winners. But Sania lacked consistency and failed to maintain the intensity.
Petrova had a very good serve and hit seven aces while Sania could manage only two. She committed three double faults too.
At times, Sania engaged Petrova in long rallies, but failed to execute a plan to recover points.
In crunch situations, the Russian held her nerve and served extremely well to thrash the Indian.
Sania will now partner American Vania King in the doubles and in the mixed doubles will team up with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi.