Sania out, Paes advances in Indian Wells

Leander Paes advanced in men's doubles but it was curtains for Sania Mirza who crashed out of the women's singles event after a straight-set loss to 12th seed Italian Flavia Pennetta in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open here today.

Fourth seeds Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy carved out a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 win over unseeded Austrians Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer in the opening round.

However, Sania lost 3-6, 4-6 after battling it out for over an hour against the Italian, who now leads the head-to-head record between the two players 3-2.

The loss ends Sania's campaign at the USD 4.5 million event as she has already been ousted from the doubles event after suffering a first-round defeat.

Paes and Dlouhy will take on another unseeded team of Argentines Juan Martin Del Potro and David Nalbandian in the second round.

Earlier in the tournament, the third seeded pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Bahamas' Mark Knowles had edged past Russians Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn 7-5, 6-3 in their opening-round match.