Sania in 2nd Round of US Open

Sania Mirza romped into the second round of the US Open with a straight-set win over Croatia's Karolina Sprem on Tuesday. Sania beat Sprem 6-4, 6-2 in the first round.

Sania will next play the number 14th seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy, who was a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Oprandi Romina.

Meanwhile, Sania dropped out of the top-50 on the WTA rankings released on Monday.
The 19-year old Indian went down 10 places to be 54th in the latest WTA rankings. The Hyderabadi girl became the first Indian woman to break into top-50 on August 8 last year following a splendid run in the US hard courts seasons prior to the US Open.

Sania was ranked as high as 31 on October 10 before ending the year at 34. That was a jump of 172 places from her 2004 year-end ranking of 206. Her best performance in singles this year so far has been two quarterfinal appearances - at the $175,000 event in Cincinnati in July and the $75,000 Forest Hills event last week.

Out of Montreal

Italian Alberta Brianti rallied to shock Sania Mirza 2-6 6-1 6-2 in the first round of the WTA Tour Rogers Cup in Montreal today.

Brianti, who is ranked 111 places below Sania (currently at No.44) in the world rankings had to go through qualifying rounds for a place in the main draw.

Sania's current doubles ranking is 31.

Week at Stanford

Wednesday: Sania (world rank 42) crashed out of the Stanford Classic after unheralded Russian Vasilisa Bardina (world rank 98) decimated her in straight sets in the 1st round of the 600,000 dollar WTA Tier II hardcourt event: 6-3, 6-2.

Friday: In doubles Sania and Be Thanie Mattek of US defeated Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Tetiana Luzhanska of Ukraine to enter the 2nd round. Score: 6-1, 6-3.

Saturday: Sania and Mattek went down in straight sets to Italy's Maria Elena Camerin and Gisela Dulko of Argentina in the doubles semifinal. The fourth-seed pair of Dulko and Camerin carved out a 6-4 6-3 win to make a place in the final.