Sania keeps it real, breezes through to round two

India’s Sania Mirza breezed through to the second round of the French Open after beating Kristina Barrois of Germany in straight sets on Monday. Sania looked in good form as she took the match in her favour 6-3, 6-3 without losing much the momentum for most part of the match despite committing 26 unforced errors as against 20 made by her opponent. She also served seven double faults but for most part managed to serve well on the big points. That held her in good stead as she wrapped up the match in a little over an hour. [caption id=“attachment_14281” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“India’s Sania Mirza hits a return to Germany’s Kristina Barrois during their women’s first round match in the French Open. AFP / Thomas Coex”] [/caption] The good news for the Indian was that her ground strokes were firing. She had 28 winners to her opponent’s 10. So in a sense, she literally hit her opponent off the court. This, despite having her left leg strapped below the knee. Barrois was ranked 59th in the WTA rankings recently (she has now dropped to 73 to the Indian’s 74) and had even reached the final of the Estoril Open in April. She was expected to put up a tougher fight but Sania was in better form. A break of serve in the fourth game put Sania 3-1 up and after saving two breakpoints in the next game, the Indian had no difficulty in pocketing the first set, adds PTI. Sania went for her shots and some of the forehand winners were outstanding. She hit 13 winners to three of Kristina in the 34-minute opening set. After both the players saved a breakpoint each at the start of the second set, it was Sania again who grabbed the lead by breaking her rival in the third game. They traded breaks in the sixth and seventh games. After saving two breakpoints in the eighth game, Sania broke Kristina for the final time in the next game to seal a place in the second round. Clay is one of Sania’s least favourite surfaces and in four appearances in the French Open before this edition, she had made the second round only once in 2007. With inputs from PTI