Sania overcomes Olga to advance in Australian Open

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza came through a testing first round against Ukraine`s Olga Savchuk to start her Australian Open campaign on a bright note here on Tuesday.

Sania, ranked 53 in the world, showed maturity in capitalising on her rival`s numerous double-faults and unforced errors to emerge 6-3 7-5 winner from an hour-and-a-half battle.

In the second round, she will play Aiko Nakamura of Japan who defeated Eleni Daniilidou 6-4 6-0.

In their only encounter in the past, Sania had beaten Nakamura in Japan Open in 2005.

After the victory, Sania said she had a better game now than when she enjoyed her best singles ranking of 31 in her debut season of 2005.

"I`m a more complete player these days. I believe I have more than when I was 30 in the world. I am 53 now but I play much better tennis today than I did then," said the 20-year-old player.

"I feel a lot fitter, I`m moving a lot better. Probably the serve is my weakest point right now, but it`s not exactly a weakness ... It`s just a matter of consolidating on that and playing some quality matches," she said.

Olga helped Sania`s cause in the first set by committing as many as six double faults.

The Hyderabadi girl held onto her serves and she also benefitted from frequent approaches to the net.