Out of Wimbledon

Sania Mirza bowed out of the women's singles at Wimbledon, losing 6-7(5-7), 5-7 to 7th seed Elena Dementieva of Russia in the first round on Tuesday. Sania was leading 5-2 in the first set after the two players traded breaks of serve. Sania was playing with strappings on her right elbow as well as on both ankles.

Dementieva, who won the pair’s only previous encounter on the hard courts of Indian Wells earlier this year, stood firm and won a critical 24-stroke-rally when the score was locked at five points all.

Sania was beaten in the second round here last year by fifth seed and eventual quarter-finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova. Sania's best performance in a Grand Slam to date came last year when she reached the fourth round of the US Open at Flushing Meadow.

Birmingham 3rd Round

Sania reached 3rd round of a WTA Tour event for the first time in eight months. The venue is the grasscourt in Birmingham, England. Sania, who has been struggling with back problems this year, was in decent enough shape in her 2nd round match against American Shenay Perry, the world number 72 to emerge victorious in 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 sets. Earlier, on Tuesday, Sania defeated Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in first round.

She is due to face American qualifier Meilen Tu here on Thursday with a quarterfinal place at stake. We are hoping she would go even beyond that to make a good splash before the Wimbledon Grand Slam starts on June 26th.

French Open

In French Open Sania crashed out of the singles competition on Tuesday following her first round loss to former champion Russian Anastasia Myskina. But on Wednesday Sania Mirza and Slovak Janette Husarova cruised into the second round of the doubles competition with a 6-1 6-3 win over the Spanish-Columbian pair of Conchita Martinez and Catalina Castano. Sania and Husarova dominated the match from the start and did not give any breathing space to their opponents.

They will now take on the winners of the match between 3rd seed German-US pair of Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Meghann Shaughnessy and Michaella Krajicek (Netherlands)/Agnes Szavay (Hungary).