Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza, fresh from her doubles win at Guangzhou, went down fighting to Russian Ekaterina Bychkova in the first round at the Tashkent Open at the Olympic Tennis Centre in Uzbekistan yesterday. Ranked 175 in the world, Bychkova scraped past the 125-ranked Sania 6-1,4-6, 7-5 in a 2-hour-7-minute battle to make it to the second round where she takes on top seed of the event Alexandra Dulgheru. Watched by husband Shoaib Malik, Sania came through a long flight late night yesterday and looked rusty in the first set going down tamely 6-1 in less than 30 mins. Sania's serve was broken in the 3rd, 5th and the 7th games respectively. In the second set Sania, who was trailing 2-4, found her rhythm broke Bychkova's serve in the 7th and 9th games to clinch the set and draw level. The Indian star looked like closing the match racing off to a 5-2 lead in the decider. However, Bychkova who had earlier defeated Sania at Bali in 2005, clawed back breaking her in the 8th, 10th and the 12th games. Sania, who is partnered by Italy's Elena Camerin,u00a0 will begin her doubles campaign in the tournament today.

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Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza, fresh from her doubles win at Guangzhou, went down fighting to Russian Ekaterina Bychkova in the first round at the Tashkent Open at the Olympic Tennis Centre in Uzbekistan 

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