Convincing start for Sania; Paes crashes

Sania next faces lucky loser Russian Alla Kudryavtseva, who beat local challenger Monique Adamczak 6-3, 6-2.

Meanwhile, in Sydney, Leander Paes had a bad day in the office as the doubles ace, in his first appearance with Australian Paul Hanley, crashed out of the 4,65,000 Medibank International.

Paes-Hanley lost to the fourth-seed Czech pair of Martin Damm 8212; former partner of the Indian ace 8212; and Pavel Vizner 6-7 5, 4-6 in the first round.

Another Indian in the fray, Mahesh Bhupathi has paired with Mark Knowles and they would open their campaign against the Czech pair of Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych.