Sania survives a scare, enters the second round of Dubai Open

Hyderabad Open winner Sania Mirza rallied from a set down to beat Croatia's Jelena Kostanic 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-1 in the singles to move into the second round of the 585,500 dollar Dubai Open here today.

The teenager from Hyderabad squandered a 4-1 lead in the first set to lose in the tie-breaker, but came back strongly in the next two sets to win the battle in a little under two hours.

Sania, who received a wild card for the Dubai tournament, faces 2004 US Open champion Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova in the next round.

''I'm not thinking about the next round,'' Sania said.

''Kuznetsova is number six in the world, so I'll just give it my best shot,'' the 18-year-old said.

Sania was off to a flying start in the first set, breaking the world number 35 Kostanic in the first and fifth games for a 4-1 lead.

The Indian teenager, who was backed by a partisan crowd, played some brilliantly in flashes. The world number 98 just had to hold serve after that but began the sixth game hitting an easy winner wide off the court. From there on her game took a nose-dive and Kostanic didn't look back, breaking the Indian twice to win four games in a row.

The scores were tied at 5-5 when Sania again played some powerful forehand winners down the line to break her opponent and go up 6-5.

But unforced errors cost her dearly as she went for sum ambitious shots, while her opponent just waited for her to make mistakes.

The Croatian pushed the set to the tie-breaker which she won 7-2 and also broke Sania.

Just when it looked curtains for the Indian in here, she raised her game and made breaks in the second, sixth and eighth games to stretch the match to the third set.

There was no looking back for the crowd favourite now as she pounded winners with ease to run away with the set in 27 minutes.

''This feels like my second home,'' she said, referring to the crowd support she received.

''I didn't expect such a big crowd. They inspired me to victory.

I could have won it in straight sets. After the second set I sat and thought that I need to go up early in the deciding set and that's exactly what happened,'' she added.

Sania was all praise for her opponent saying, ''She played a solid tie-breaker and it was tough for her as the crowd was rooting for me.''