Overcoming a leg cramp, Sania Mirza rallied to beat Japan’s Akiko Morigami 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) in a marathon battle to enter the second round of the $600,000 Bank of West Classic tournament here.
The Indian will take on sixth seed Tatiana Golovin of France in the second round of the hardcourt event being played on the Stanford University campus.
In a see-saw contest lasting more than two hours, Sania forced a third-set tie-breaker against Morigami on Tuesday night to come through in front of over 3,000 cheering fans.
Morigami took control early in the match, capitalising on three critical breaks to take the opening set. Sania had her back against the wall in the second set as she trailed 3-5. But she got her act together after that and won four straight games to tie the match at one set apiece.
The world number 35 carried the momentum into the third set and took a 2-1 lead. Both players then held serve, forcing a tie-breaker. Sania, battling a leg cramp which required a medical time-out, took a 2-0 lead before beating the Japanese.
“I would never call for a trainer at 6-5 in the third set if I did not have to. I started to feel it when I served and I noticed I was sweating and very tight,” she said.
Golovin and Sania’s doubles partner Shahar Peer led a trio of seeds into the second round. Golovin eased to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ukraine's Viktoriya Kutuzova while Israel's Peer defeated France's Camille Pin 7-6, 6-2.
They were joined in the last 16 by Austrian eighth seed Sybille Bammer, who raced to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Japan's Ai Sugiyama.
In other matches, Russia's Maria Kirilenko overcame Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in more than three hours and will face seventh seed Katerina Srebotnik.
Roddick through
Defending champion James Blake and top seed Andy Roddick won their opening matches in straight sets at the Indianapolis Championships on Tuesday, adds Reuters from Indianapolis.
Blake beat 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson 7-5, 7-6 while Roddick, playing his first match since his five-set quarterfinal loss to Frenchman Richard Gasquet at Wimbledon, passed wildcard Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-0.
Fourth seed Mardy Fish fought off two match points and patella tendonitis in his right knee to win a 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 first-round match over fellow Floridian Vince Spadea.
Third-seeded Dmitry Tursunov defeated American journeyman Michael Russell 6-3, 7-5, while sixth seed Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea beat Donald Young 6-2, 6-4.
Moya moves up
At Umag in Croatia, four-times former winner Carlos Moya beat last year's champion Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round of the Croatia Open, reports Reuters.
Moya’s compatriot David Ferrer, the fourth seed, defeated another Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-2, while fifth-seeded Guillermo Canas from Argentina secured passage by beating Croat Roko Karanusic 6-3, 6-3.
Italy's Filippo Volandri beat  Loukas Dlouhy from the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1.