Tuesday, May 24 2005 19:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Paris: Sania Mirza's French Open campaign ended with a whimper after she lost in the first round of the clay court Grand Slam women's singles at the Roland Garros in Paris today (May 24, 2005).

Sania, yet to reach her peak fitness after an ankle injury eight weeks ago and playing in only her second tournament on comeback, went down 3-6 3-6 to 30th ranked Gisela Dulko of Argentina.

The 18-year old Indian did well to break her opponent four times, twice in each set, but Dulko's experience on the red clay helped her bounce back every time and prevail over the Indian to close the issue in an hour and 17 minutes.

Sania received one WTA point and 11,790 euro for her effort. She would now turn her attention to the doubles play where she partners Anna Chakvetadze of Russia.

The match failed to raise to a level as both the players committed series of unforced errors -- 32 and 31 for Sania and Dulko respectively -- but the Argentine won 72 points as against Sania's 58.

Sania, the first Indian woman to reach the third round at Australian Open, had said ahead of the match that clay court not being her favourite court and her opponent a specialist on the surface, she had a tough ask on the hand but she would give all she had.

Sania did give all she had, as she frequently caught Dulko off guard with her trademark forehands. But she lacked the consistency and her rival came up with clever variations in the depth of her strokes to upset her rhythm.