Sania sets date with Venus in Australian open

NI Wire

New Delhi

Thu, 17 Jan 2008: 

India's top ranked woman tennis player Sania Mirza sets her date with eighth seed Venus Williams in the third round of the Australian open after edging past Swiss Timea Bacsinszky in a hard fought battle in the women's singles second round in Australian Open on Thursday.

Sania got the better of her opponent mea 6-1 4-6 7-5 as the three-set gruelling battle lasted for almost an hour and 44 minutes.

India's tennis sensation Sania now has a Herculean task ahead of her as she will have to fight it out in the third round with eighth-seeded Venus Williams of USA. The American stormed into the third round by defeating 7-5 6-4 Camille Pin of France after edging past some early resistance dished out from the French woman.

The 21-year old, Sania made most of her opponent's unforced errors to clinch the first set in style. Timea made a remarkable comeback in the second set and took it 6-4 in her favour forcing the match into the third set.

The Swiss native gave Sania a hard time in the deciding rubber as the latter had to fight it out with a 7-5 win to seal her place for the round three of the grand slam opener.