Sania goes down fighting in France WTA event

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza's preparations for the French Open were hurt badly as she suffered first round defeats in both singles and doubles events of a WTA tournament in Strasbourg.

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza's preparations for the French Open were hurt badly as she suffered first round defeats in both singles and doubles events of a WTA tournament in Strasbourg.

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In the singles on Tuesday, Sania fought hard but lost 4-6 6-4 1-6 to local wild card Alize Cornet after two hours and four minutes in the opening round of the $220,000 clay court event.

In the doubles, Sania and her Czech partner Lucie Hradecka, top seeds, had lost the closely fought first round 7-5 2-6 10-12 to Germany's Angelique and Katarzyna Piter of Poland, on Monday.

It was last WTA tournament before the Roland Garros, starting Sunday in Paris.

In Tuesday's singles, Sania created four break chances in the first set but could convert just one but in the second she managed to convert three of six chances.

However, she lost steam in the decisive third set, in which she dropped her serve thrice.