LONDON, June 21 (PTI): Sania Mirza�s struggle at the Wimbledon continues as she crashed out of the prestigious tournament in the first round after losing to Virginie Razzano of France in the women�s singles here today.
Sania, ranked 60th in the world, lost 6-7, 6-2, 3-6 to her opponent 36 places below her in WTA charts in a match that lasted 132 minutes. This was Sania�s third exit in the first round in seven appearances at the Wimbledon while she had progressed upto the second round on four occasions. She had lost in the first round last year also.
The Indian fell short of playing her best tennis on the day, committing as many as 31 unforced errors as compared to her opponent�s 15. Sania and Razzano did not give any inch to each other in the first set which went on serves. The first set could have gone either way but Razzano won it in tie-break. The Indian came back strongly in the second set with some fabulous winners from her racquet. She won the set in 37 minutes to take the tie to the decider.
In the decider, both players held onto their serves till 3-3 but Sania was broken in the seventh game to trail 3-4 before Razzano made it 5-3 in her serve. Trailing 3-5, Sania succumbed to pressure as she failed to hold on to her serve to lose the third set 3-6 and the match.
Sania will also play in the doubles event with Elena Vesnina of Russia. Seeded fourth, the Indo-Russian pair will take on the duo of Anna Chakvetadze of Russia and Melanie Oudin of United States in the first round.
