Sania Mirza overcame leg cramps in the third set as she rallied to beat Japan's Akiko Morigami 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) to enter the second round of the US $600,000 Bank of West Classic tournament in Stanford, USA, on Tuesday.
The Indian ace will take on sixth seed Tatiana Golovin of France in the second round of the hard court event, being played at the Stanford University campus.
In a see-saw contest lasting more than two hours, Sania forced a third-set tie-breaker against Morigami 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 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 third-set tie-breaker.
Sania, who was also battling a leg cramp which required a medical time out, took a 2-0 lead before cruising through.
"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.
Sania acknowledged that the crowd support helped her in the keen contest.
"There are a lot of Indians in the San Francisco area and I thought the crowd tonight really helped me out. I like that they came here tonight and were cheering for me," she said.
Sania has teamed up with Israel's Shahar Peer in doubles and the duo will open their campaign against Tatiana Poutchek and (Belarus) and Anastasia Rodionova (Russia).
First-round results: (prefix number denotes seeding)
5-Shahar Peer (Israel) beat Camille Pin (France) 7-6(5), 6-2; Sania Mirza (India) beat Akiko Morigami (Japan) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(5); 6-Tatiana Golovin (France) beat Viktoriya Kutuzova (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-2; 8-Sybille Bammer (Austria) beat Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-4, 6-2; Yaroslava Shvedova (Russia) beat Julia Vakulenko (Ukraine) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Maria Kirilenko (Russia) beat Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4; Olga Govortsova (Belarus) beat Catalina Castano (Colombia) 6-4, 6-2.
Image: Sania in action against Morigami at the Stanford University campus.
