Sania off to a flying start

NEW DELHI: Sania Mirza kicked off her 2007 season on a confident note, winning both her singles and doubles first-round matches at the Moorilla International Open women’s tournament in Hobart, Tasmania, on Monday.

Sania, who entered the singles main draw as a wild card, ousted world No. 29 Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-4 6-4 to advance to the second round of the $ 145,000 hard-court event on the WTA Tour.

This was Sania’s second straight win over Kirilenko, the first being yet another straight sets verdict in the semi-finals of the 2005 Hyderabad Open, a tournament she went on to win for her maiden, and so far only, WTA Tour title.

The 20-year-old Indian, ranked 66th, will next play Romina Oprandi of Italy who pulled off a 7-6(3) 6-1 win over Elena Likhovtseva of Russia.

Later, Sania combined with local lass Alicia Molik to defeat Alona Bondarenko and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-1 7-6(6) in the doubles.

On the men’s Tour, Leander Paes and Czech Republic’s Martin Damm have been seeded fourth at the $436,000 Medibank International in Sydney.

The reigning US Open champions, who reached the final of the Qatar Open in Doha last week, were pitted against Lukas Dlouzy and Pavel Vizner of Czech Republic in their opening round. The draw also featured Paes’ former partner and compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi, who is teaming up with France’s Farbrice Santoro.