Injured Sania bows out in Bangkok

Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza's run at the Thailand Open was cut short on Thursday, when she retired hurt in the second round.

The fifth seeded Indian was trailing 5-7 against Meng Yuan of China when she suffered lower back strain and threw in the towel before the start of the second set.

Sania also bowed out of the doubles. She and partner Sahar Peer of Israel conceded a walk-over to second seeds Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Shinobu Asagoe of Japan because of Sania's back strain.

In other matches, Italy's Antonella Serra Zanetti beat Hungary's Melinda Czink 6-3, 6-3; top seed Nadia Petrova of Russia beat Japan's Saori Obata 6-3, 6-2 and sixth seed Conchita Martinez of Spain accounted for Catalina Castano of Columbia 6-2, 6-0.

The Thailand Open was Sania's last assignment before a scheduled break for a month.

The Indian ace had risen to a career-best 31 on the WTA rankings last week.