Sania Mirza in action against Akiko Morigami in Stanford on Tuesday. (AP)

Stanford: Sania Mirza overcame a leg cramp to beat Japan’s Akiko Morigami 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) in a marathon battle to enter the second round of the $600,000 Bank of West Classic tournament here.

The Indian will take on sixth seed Tatiana Golovin of France in the second round of the hardcourt event being played on the Stanford University Campus.

In a see-saw contest lasting more than two hours, Sania forced a third-set tie-breaker against Morigami last night to come through in front of over 3,000 cheering fans.

Morigami took control early in the match capitalising on three critical breaks to take the opening set.

Sania had her back against the wall in the second set as she trailed 3-5. But she got her act together after that and won four straight games to tie the match at one set apiece.

The world No. 35 carried the momentum into the third set and took a 2-1 lead. Both the players then held serves forcing a third-set tie-breaker.

Sania, who was also battling a leg cramp, which required a medical time out, took a 2-0 lead before beating the Japanese.

“I would never call for a trainer at 6-5 in the third set if I did not have to. I started to feel it when I served and I noticed I was sweating and very tight,” she said.

Sania acknowledged that the crowd support helped her game in the keen contest.

“There are a lot of Indians in San Francisco and I thought the crowd tonight really helped me out. I like that they came here tonight and were cheering for me,” she said.

Sania has teamed up with Israel’s Shahar Peer in doubles and the duo will open their campaign against Tatiana Poutchek (Belarus) and Anastasia Rodionova (Russia).