India’s Sania Mirza crashed out of the Pan Pacific Open with a first-round defeat in a marathon three-setter against Chinese Jie Zheng.
Sania, who had to qualify for the USD two million hard court event, went down 7-5 2-6 3-6 after a contest lasting more than two hours.
Sania, who has been plagued by a nagging wrist injury for more than a year now, fought hard in a see-saw opening set.
She broke her rival thrice to go 1-0 up. However, Sania ran out of steam thereafter and lost her serve four times to go down 2-6 in the second set.
The third set followed a similar script and the Indian was once again outplayed with her serve being a major let down.
