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Sania crashes out in first round at Bali
By Barry Wood
September 13, 2005

Eighth seeded Sania Mirza lost her first round singles match in the $225,000 WTA Wismilak tennis tournament, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old Indian ace was beaten by unseeded Russian Ekaterina Bychkova, who had knocked defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova out in the first round at the US Open.

"Everyone has bad days and it's my bad day today," said Mirza, who lost 3-6, 2-6 in 57 minutes.

"I wasn't really in it from the beginning," Mirza, who lost in the fourth round of the US Open earlier this month, said.

"She played a good match but I think I was really rusty. I was just not in my rhythm. A lot of shots that went in other matches just didn't go in today," she added.

Mirza will play in the doubles on Wednesday.

Australian Alicia Molik claimed her first victory since April with a 7-6 6-3 win over Argentina's Mariana Diaz-Oliva to reach the second round.

Third seed Molik missed the French Open and Wimbledon with a virus that affected her balance and her comeback has been slow. The victory against Diaz Oliva was far from convincing.

"It was a win, which is great and fantastic," Molik said. "But I've gotten very used to winning in a fun way and playing great tennis. That's what I'm striving for, at the same time as having to be happy getting through an ugly win."

Playing under lights, Molik fell behind and Diaz-Oliva served for the opening set at 5-4 but the Australian held off the challenge took the tiebreak 8-6.

"If I'd have lost that first set I would probably have got pretty down on myself. I was very lucky to get out of that," Molik said.

In the second set, a double fault gave Molik an early break for 2-1. Diaz Oliva double-faulted again to concede the match.

In the only other match involving a seed, number five Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany beat Croatia's Karolina Sprem 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.

Barry Wood
Source: REUTERS
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