Indian ace Sania Mirza crashed out of the Pan Pacific Open with a first-round defeat in a three setter against Chinese Jie Zheng.

Sania, who had to qualify for the $two million hard-court event, went down 7-5, 2-6, 3-6 after a contest lasting more than two hours.

Sania, who has been plagued by a nagging wrist injury for more than a year now, fought hard in a see-saw opening set.

She broke her rival thrice to go 1-0 up. However, Sania ran out of steam thereafter and lost her serve four times to go down 2-6 in the second set.

The third set followed a similar script and the Indian was once again outplayed with her serve being a major let-down.