Sania Mirza to play a qualifier

Sania Mirza has been pitted against a qualifier in the women's singles first round of the USD 1340000 Rogers Cup tennis tournament at Montreal, Canada beginning here tomorrow.

The 44th ranked Indian, whose opponents is yet to be decided, will run into 36th ranked Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands, if advances to the second round of the Tier I WTA tournament.

In the qualifiers, Shikha Uberoi stretched Nichole Pratt of Australia to a three setter before crashing out in the first round.

Shikha lost to the 23 seeded Pratt 2-6 6-3 1-6 failing to qualify for the main draw of 32 players, which has Kim Clijsters as the top seed and Maria Sharapova as the second seed.

The US-based player represents India but her sister Neha, playing under the American flag, advanced to the second round after defeating second seeded Elena V Esnina of Russia 6-3 6-0 in her first round qualifying match.

She will now challenge Maria Fernandes Alves of Brazil to grab a place in the main draw of the prestigious tournament.

Alves was declared winner after her opponent Hana Sromova was retired when the Neha was leading 3-2.