Indian Wells (U.S.): Sania Mirza's campaign came to a crashing end as she went down to Elena Dementieva of Russia in a singles third round match and then, partnering Ai Sugiyama, failed to get past Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs in a doubles second round encounter in the $2.1 million Pacific Life Open here on Monday.

In the singles match, Sania started well in the two-hour-long battle but the Russian came back strongly after being a set down to clinch the match.

The Indian broke her opponent thrice in the first set to win it 7-5 but her tendency to let the momentum slip, again proved to be her undoing as Dementieva held on in the next two sets to stage a comeback.

Sania was broken four times in the second set by the Russian who won the set comfortably 6-4. The match went in to the decider where Dementieva proved to be too good for the Indian and despite committing six double faults, the Russian managed to march ahead after winning the set 6-4.

Disappointing

It was a disappointing result for the Indian, who gave a spirited fight to the higher ranked player and did not commit a single double fault in the match. It was also the first time this year that Sania managed to reach the third round of a singles competition.

Meanwhile, a baffled Andre Agassi was bundled out 7-5, 6-2 by Germany's Tommy Haas.

Solid display

Third-seeded Andy Roddick, another American who has been trying to turn around an indifferent early season, maintained his momentum with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Spain's Fernando Verdasco.

Two time Indian Wells champion Lleyton Hewitt launched his campaign with a scrambling 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 6-4 second-round victory over Germany's Rainer Schuettler.

Henin blanks Nakamura

On the women's side, top seed Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium crushed Japan's Aiko Nakamura 6-0, 6-0.

Other results: Men (third round): David Nalbandian bt Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-1; Igor Andreev bt Robin Soderling 3-6, 7-6 (16-14), 6-4; Jarkko Nieminen bt Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1, 3-6, 6-3; Marat Safin bt Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-4; Paradorn Srichiphan bt Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-2.

Second round: Sebastien Grosjean bt Kristof Vliegen 6-1, 6-3; Xavier Malisse bt Radek Stepanek 6-1, 6-1; Mario Ancic bt Davide Sanguinetti 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-2; Tomas Berdych bt Tim Henman 6-4, 6-4.

Women (third round): Anna-Lena Groenefeld bt Anna Smashnova 2-6, 6-1, 6-2; Gisela Dulko bt Tatiana Golovin 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6); Ai Sugiyama bt Lucie Safarova 6-3, 7-5; Anna Chakvetadze bt Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-3; Ana Ivanovic bt Shenay Perry 6-1, 6-3. — Agencies

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