Sania Mirza set up a second round clash with multiple Grand Slam winner and second seed Venus Williams after edging past Sesil Karatantcheva 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the US $1 million WTA Family Circle Cup in Charleston.
The Indian ace, fresh after her doubles title win at a Florida WTA event last week, took an hour and 16 minutes to dispatch her opponent from Kazakhstan.
The encounter saw a lot of breaks being traded and Sania converted more chances to advance to the next level.
The Indian broke thrice in the first set and saved four break-points apart from dropping serve twice.
In the second set, she raised her game and converted both the break-points that came her way en route to victory.
The road becomes extremely tough for Sania hereafter as she is now up against world No 5 Venus, against whom she lost both of her previous encounters.