Mirza upbeat despite Paris loss

PARIS: India's Sania Mirza says she remains upbeat about her season despite the straight sets defeat to Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in the second round of the French Open on Thursday.

It was the 20-year-old from Hyderabad's first outing since injuring her right knee in a WTA tournament in Doha in February, which required surgery that left her in a wheelchair for a while.

"The match was set up as the battle of the forehands. We both hit really hard, but unfortunately she got the better of me today," Mirza said.

The Indian No.1 put her loss down to a lack of practice on the tour.

"Today my lack of match practice really came into play. It was four all in the second set, and I had game point. I lost it. It's all about confidence, but I felt good out there."

Mirza admits that this year has been a struggle and she had "had to start from scratch" after two months lay-off following surgery on her knee.

"The rehab started two days after the surgery but it's been very, very hard," she said.

Even now, Mirza, the highest ranked Indian ever, who reached a career high ranking of 31 in 2005 and currently stands at 50, feels that her injured leg is still not back to full strength. 

"It still feels like my left leg is a lot stronger than my right leg," she said.

Despite this, the young Indian is positive about her comeback, since she feared it would take her longer to get back into the game after not hitting a tennis ball for nine weeks.

"I think I'm playing okay. I probably thought personally that I would take longer to start hitting the ball as well as I was when I stopped playing. But I'm hitting the ball okay." 

She now has her sights set on her preferred surface - grass, and is set to travel to tournaments in Birmingham and 's-Hertogenbosch followed by her third Wimbledon campaign near the end of June.

"Clay is not my favourite surface and I'm really looking forward to getting back on grass," she said. 

"I'm expecting an interesting few matches in Birmingham. I have had a few good matches at Wimbledon in the past and I'm looking forward to playing there again this year."

Mirza hopes to build on her experience last year at Wimbledon where she lost to experienced Russian Elena Dementieva in the first round.