Sania advances to round 2

Sania Mirza took another giant stride towards her goal of making it to the top-50 in world rankings with a 6-2, 6-2 thumping of Italy's Tathiana Garbin in the first round of the 1.3-million-dollar Acura Classic women's tennis event at San Diego, USA.

Up against a 78th-ranked player, Sania had an unexpectedly easy outing at the La Costa Resort and Spa venue on Tuesday.

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The win, combined with her two qualifying round victories, would give 59th ranked Sania 43.5 Tour points (including bonus points) and push her ranking at least by another four places up on the WTA charts.

The 18-year-old Indian will be up against fourth seed Nadia Petrova of Russia in the second round.

Petrova is ranked 8th in the world but yet to win a WTA Tour title. A win against the top-10 player would give Sania that many bonus points and speed up her entry into the top-50 bracket.