Sania scrapes through to second round in the doubles

Sania Mirza kept her flickering Wimbledon hopes alive as she and Sweden’s Simon Aspelin managed to thwart the challenge of Argentinian-Australian duo of Gaston Etlis and Lisa McShea 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-5 in the first round of the mixed doubles.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Mary Pierce defeated local hope David Sherwood and Elena Baltacha 6-3, 6-4 to set a second round clash with second seed Wayne and Cara Black of USA.

Trailing by one set, the Sania-Aspelin pair stretched themselves before they could win the next two and seal the match in their favour yesterday.

It was a match which saw swinging fortunes. The first set witnessed some close contest and went into the tie-breaker which the Indo-Swede pair lost 5-7. It was a wake up call for Sania and for Aspelin who had reached the men’s doubles quarter-finals here last year. They came into their own in the second set winning it comprehensively 6-2 but the sailing was not going to be so smooth in the next as Etlis and McShea bounced back.

The third set was also a very close call as the Indo-Swede pair of Sania and Aspelin pocketed it 7-5 to book a berth in the next round.

Sania-Aspelin will face the seventh seed Czech-Slovak duo of Leos Friedl and Janette Husarova in the second round.