Mirza through after a win over Jovanovski at the Qatar Ladies Open in Dubai
Sania Mirza defeated Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia to reach the second round of Qatar Ladies Open.
The Indian tennis star, who was awarded a wild card to take part in the tournament, needed one hour and 24 minutes to get past the promising Serbian star in two straight sets 6-2 7-5.
The experience of the Mirza and the huge support for her fans in the center court were influential in her victory. She will now face another Serbian player in the second round.
Her next opponent will be former World Number One Jelena Jankovic who made it to the second round after a 6-1 6-3 win over Fatma Al Nabhany of Oman.
Despite the score, the 19-year-old Omani was a match for the experienced Serbian at some points of the match. She is one of the most promising female tennis stars in the Arab world, and had a lot of success previously at Junior Level.
The surprise of the day came from Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova who knocked out sixth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus with a 4-6 6-1 6-2 victory.
Hantuchova, no. 30 in WTA rankings, sent a strong message to all the top seeds in the tournaments after her performance against Azarenka. The Slovakian is in top form and was just crowned with Pattaya title last week, her fourth WTA title and the first since three years.
