Sania Mirza goes down fighting

The 18-year-old Sania Mirza put up a brave effort but Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova won the battle of teenagers at Wimbledon.

Sania Mirza put up a brave effort but it was not enough as Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova won the battle of teenagers in the women's singles second round match of the Wimbledon tennis championship in London on Wednesday.

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The 18-year-old Indian showed great fighting qualities before losing 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 in 137 minutes.

Sania, who had her fifth ranked opponent in trouble on a number of occasions, saw all her hard work going in vain on the Centre Court of the All England Lawn Tennis Club after failing to be benefited from the advantageous position she had put herself in with some fine play.

The loss meant that Sania, the world number 75, failed to reproduce her performance of the Dubai Open where she had beaten her more fancied opponent earlier this year.

Sania, playing on her favourite grass court, also failed to match her Australian Open feat where she had made it to the third round.