New York, Aug 25 (IANS): India's Sania Mirza stormed into the second round of the US Open tennis women's singles qualifiers with a facile 6-2, 6-2 victory over Russian Ksenia Lykina.
Sania next plays another Russian, 150th-ranked Elena Bovina, who scored a fighting 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-1 upset win over 15th-seeded German Tatjana Malek.
This is the first time since 2005 that Sania has to play a qualifying round in a Grand Slam. The 23-year-old Indian, once ranked as high as 27, has now slipped to 160th in the world.
Sania's best performance here has been a singles fourth round appearance in 2005 and a doubles quarterfinal in 2007.