Sania crashes out of Istanbul Open

NEW DELHI: For the second week in a row since her return from a knee injury, Sania Mirza failed to clear the opening round in a WTA Tour event when she went down to Meghann Shaughnessy in the $200,000 Istanbul Cup tennis tournament on Tuesday.

The 52nd-ranked Indian cut a sorry figure against the American, ranked 14th rungs lower in the WTA singles ladder, and went down 4-6, 3-6 in just over one hour and 20 minutes.

Sania, seeded eighth, could not carry forward the momentum of winning her first doubles crown of the season at the Morocco Open, where too she made a premature first round exit in singles.

The first set promised to be a see-saw affair with both players going neck-and-neck. Shaughnessy broke Sania's serve three times in the set, while the Indian could return the compliment only twice.

Sania's serve let her down in the second set as well as Shaughnessy turned the heat on the Hyderabad girl.

The American broke Sania twice in the set and went on to clinch the match.