Sania Mirza’s poor run in singles continued as she bowed out in the first round of the Istanbul Cup, losing to Meghan Shaughnessy of the United States on Tuesday.
Sania, the eighth seed, lost 4-6, 3-6. The Indian had crashed in the first round of the WTA tournament in Morocco last week.
Fourth-seeded Venus Williams overpowered Bulgarian Tatiana Poutchek 6-1, 6-2 in the first high-profile match of the tournament.
Williams is trying to climb back into the world's top 16 before the French Open, which begins later this month, having dropping as low as 71 after wrist and knee injuries.
Third-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland beat Taiwanese Chan Yung-Jan 6-1 6-1, while American Vania King defeated Turkey's Ipek Senoglu 6-3 7-5.
Ekaterina Dzehalevich of Belarus beat Georgian Anna Tatishvili 6-3 7-5 in the day's first match.

Ljubicic wins
Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia defeated Amer Delic of the United States, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (8) to advance into the second round of the Hypo Group International in Poertschach, Austria.
French qualifier Mathieu Montcourt upset eighth-seeded Max Mirnyi of Belarus, 6-4, 6-4. Andy Roddick on Monday had defeated Alexander Peya 6-4, 7-5.
Roddick will face Kristian Pless of Denmark in the second round. Pless defeated Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-3, 6-3.
Also through to the next round is Albert Montanes of Spain, who beat Daniele Bracciali of Italy 6-0, 6-4. Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea defeated Danai Udomchoke of Thailand, winning 6-3, 6-0. Wild card Gael Monfils of France also advanced by beating Sam Querrey of the United States, 6-4, 7-5.
Ljubicic defeated Delic in a tight match dominated by strong serves - Ljubicic had 14 aces, Delic 16.
Both players held throughout the first set to go into a tiebreaker. Ljubicic missed two set points at 6-4 and Delic missed one at 6-7, before the Croatian converted his third chance.
Ljubicic trailed 5-2 in the second set but rallied to force a second tiebreaker. Delic failed to convert two set points before Ljubicic won on his second match point.