Sania Mirza continued her march at the US Open, scoring a hard-fought victory over Maria Elena Camerin of Italy in the second round of the women's singles on Armstrong court on Wednesday.
The 42nd-ranked India ace won 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 and set up a third round meeting with 43rd-ranked 20-year-old Marion Bartoli of France, who got the better of Shenay Perry of the United States 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 in another second round match earlier.
Like in her first round match against Manosha Washington, Sania turned in a patchy display in the two hour seven minutes contest but did well to capitalize on some erratic play by her opponent to snatch victory.
Sania broke Camerin's first service game to take a 2-0 lead in the first set, but the Italian fought back well. The two players exchanged breaks after that before Sania forged ahead at 5-4 and got the crucial break in the next game to take the set 6-4.
Camerin came back with a bang in the second set as she broke the Indian twice to win it 6-1. Sania was clearly made to pay for the 19 unforced errors she committed compared to her opponent's four.
The Italian took some time out to receive treatment for an injury at the start of the third set, but that didn't seem to affect her at all, as she romped to a 2-0 lead.
But as the see-saw battle continued and Sania grabbed the break back and then effected a vital break in the fifth game of the decider.
The 23-year-old Italian, ranked 81st in the world, broke yet again to make it 4-4, only for the Indian to break again and forge ahead at 5-4.
Playing her fourth Grand Slam of the year, Sania brought all her experience into play to serve out the match at 6-4.
Match summary:
1st serve: Sania 52% Camerin 72%
Winners: Sania 36 Camerin 7
Unforced errors: Sania 56 Camerin 28
Break points won: Sania 6/10 Camerin 7/11
Total Points won: Sania 94 Camerin 95
