India's tennis sensation Sania Mirza progressed to the second round of the Australian Open, beating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7-6(8), 6-2 in Melbourne on Tuesday.
The 32nd seed needed 81 minutes to brush off the challenge from qualifier 16-year-old Azarenka, who was making her maiden appearance at the Australian Open.
Sania will next take on The Netherlands' unseeded world No. 43 Michaella Krajicek, who beat Puerto Rico's Kristina Brandi 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) in another first round match.
Sania, the lone Indian in the singles, started the match well, and raced to a comfortable 5-3 lead in the first set after breaking Azarenka in the eighth game. However, the Belarus teenager shot back, winning the next three games as errors started to creep into Sania's game to take the set into a tie-breaker.
But Sania kept her cool and never really had any problems in the tie-breaker, which she won 8-6, after taking a 4-1 lead.
The tie-breaker seemed to have revitalized Sania, who broke her opponent in the first game of the second set. The 19-year-old consolidated on the good start in the second set to romp to a 5-2 lead after breaking Azarenka for the second time in the seventh game. She promptly served out in the next game to take the set 6-2 and progress to the next round.
Sania had advanced to the third round of the Australian Open last year, where she went down to Serena Williams.
