Squandering away the initial advantage, Sania Mirza went down to fourth seed Nicole Pratt of Australia 6-4, 2-6, 2-6 in the first round in the US $140,000 WTA Tour Hyderabad Open Tennis Tournament at the L B Tennis complex in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Amidst cheers from the home crowd, Sania began her campaign in style, winning the first set 6-4. She broke the Australian in the second, fourth, eighth and tenth games while the latter broke the Indian thrice in the set.
But things went awry for Sania in the second set after she was unable to hold serve in the first and third games.
Pratt went ahead 4-0 and allowed the Indian only two games before proceeding to take the set.
The decider ran into anxious moments with both players picking an argument with the chair umpire and the crowd booing in support of Sania. The Hyderabad lass changed the tactics and relied on placings instead of going for a baseline attack. She took the first game with ease and the score raced in tandem with each breaking the other's serve.
But the Australian lifted her game a few notches at and broke Sania's serve in the fifth and held in the next game. She smashed the local lass in the seventh game to take a comfortable 5-2 lead.
Tempers ran high with Sania's outbursts at the chair umpire and the crowd supporting the local lass. Few minutes later, it was the turn of Pratt to pick up an argument with chair umpire and when the matter settled down, the fourth seed had an easy sailing into the second round.
Earlier, defending champion Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand defeated Evgenia Kulikovskaya of Russsia 6-4, 6-0.
The Russian threatened to demolish the Thai's defence when rallied from 0-5 to 4-5 but the third seed held her cool and won.
Sania later told reporters that her opponent was "good indeed" and she could not rise to the occasion when it
mattered most.
"There is always a second chance," she added.
First round results:
Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thai) bt Evgenis Kulikovskaya (Rus) 6-4, 6-0; Sania Mirza lost to Nicole Pratt (Aus) 6-4, 2-6, 2-6; Mervana Jugic Salkic (Bosnia) bt Yn Zi (Chi) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; Mstis Rlrns Vsmrtin (Ita) bt Anastass Rodion (Rus) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1; Shahar Peer (Isr) bt Tian Tian Sun Chn) 6-4, 6-4; Vera Douche Vina (Rus) bt Anna Lena Groenefeld (Fer) 6-3, 6-2.