Sania-Strycova make winning start in Pan Pacific Open

Tokyo: India’s Sania Mirza and her partner Barbora Strycova entered the second round of the women’s doubles event at the Toray Pan Pacific Open here today, after registering a hard-fought three sets win over unseeded local duo of Misaki Doi and Kurumi Nara.

The second seeded Indo-Czech pair had to sweat it out for exactly two hours to getter of the Japanese combination 6-7(3) 7-5 10-8 in the super tie-breaker.

After breaking her 14-month long partnerships with Martina Hingis, Sania paired up with Strycova and the duo won their maiden title in their first outing when they lifted the Cincinnati Open last month.

But Sania and Strycova failed to carry on the good run and crashed out in the quarterfinals of the US Open.

PTI