Sania Mirza

Melbourne: Sania Mirza overcame a fighting Vitalia Diatchenko in a tough three-setter to storm into the third and final round of women’s singles qualifying event of the Australian Open here on Saturday. The 24th seed Indian scored a 6-4, 6-7 (9), 6-3 in one hour 46 minutes in the second round. The 145th ranked Sania will next face Canada’s Stephanie Dubois.

Sania dropped her serve twice in the opening set but saved five other and managed to convert three of the six break chances she got. The second set was more closely fought as the Russian girl raised her game and went all out against Sania.

Diatchenko earned 10 break points and converted three of them, same as Sania, but the set was decided through a tie-breaker in which the Russian prevailed.

(PTI)