Friday, March 25 2005 11:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Sania Mirza failed to rediscover the same magic, which saw her vanquish some of the best in the business in the last few months as she bowed out in the first round of the $ 3.1-million Nadaq-100 Open WTA Tour tennis event in Miami, USA.

The 18-year-old Indian went down to Spaniard Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 2-6 5-7 yesterday (Mar 24, 2005) in one hour and 13 minutes in the Tier 1 tournament, which belongs to the level next only to the Grand Slams.

Playing as a wildcard in what was only her second event at this level, Sania struggled with her serves - making eight doubles faults as against just one ace - and had as many as 10 break points against her out of which Lorenzo converted seven.

In fact, the 77th-ranked Indian failed to hold on to her serve in the first set and the two games she won were by breaking her opponent, 11 places below her in world ranking.

Sania put up a better show in the second set but was still erratic with her serves as she committed five doubles faults and lost her serve thrice as against breaking her opponent twice.

The Hyderabadi has had a fine run this year as she became the first Indian woman to reach the third round of a grand slam and win a WTA tour title at the Hyderabad Open.

She also made the most of the wildcard given to her in the Dubai Open tournament last week where she upset reigning US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, Neha Uberoi, a player of Indian origin playing for USA, went down to Galina Voskoboeva of Russia 4-6 2-6.

Neha, younger sister of India's Fed Cup team member Shikha Uberoi, has also earned her entry through a wild card awarded to the reigning Luxillon Cup champion.