FIGHTING HARD: Mara Santangelo had to use all her experience to subdue Akgul Amanmuradova. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

Bangalore: Sania Mirza switched from being a victim of tactically correct tennis from her opponent to wresting the initiative herself and beating Tatiana Poutchek 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, in the second round of the Sony Ericsson International WTA tennis tournament, at the KSLTA Stadium on Thursday.

The first five games of the first set were a nightmare, with Sania in little control of the rallies. Poutchek would seem an irritant for aggressive opponents, wanting to get on with things. Sania was forced to do all the thinking, angling and finishing.

Nothing special

The Belarusian did nothing special, sending the ball across at a harmless pace, sacrificing angles for accuracy. Sania played straight into her opponent's hands and was forced to go for the shots.

Sania's performance in the second and third sets was heartening. Having gauged an opponent who had beaten her in the past, she attacked her backhand, and created opportunities to exploit an open court. Running away with a 5-2 lead in the second, the Sania of yore haunted her briefly, as she looked like throwing it all away when the scores were level at 5-5.

Undaunted by that aberration, she was steady enough to execute a brilliant down-the-line backhand winner to set up set point. There were no hiccups this time. Poutchek's idiosyncratic bursts were getting to her, and the third set was no surprise.

"I promise to come up with a better performance in the quarterfinal," she said.

Earlier, Mara Santangelo, a tactically sound player and a good counter-puncher, beat Akgul Amanmuradova 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Amanmuradova served well in the first two sets and sent the ball in deep, which did not suit the Italian's already-cramped style. Santangelo's shots in pursuit of big winners were easily swatted away by the big-built Amanmuradova.

Up 3-0 in the second, the Uzbek failed to strike the final blow, as Santangelo changed tactics, coming to the net a lot more and bringing the Uzbek's bludgeons to a grinding halt. India's Shikha Uberoi and USA's Neha Uberoi entered the doubles quarterfinals, beating Indians Isha Lakhani and Sandhya Nagaraj 6-4, 6-0, in the first round.

The results: Singles: Second round: Melinda Czink (Hun) bt Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe) 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-5; Mara Santangelo (Ita) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2; Olga Savchuk (Ukr) bt Alicia Molik (Aus) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Sania Mirza (Ind) bt Tatiana Poutchek (Blr) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Doubles: Quarterfinals: Yung-Jan Chan/ Chia-Jung Chuang (Tpe) bt Alberta Brianti (Ita)/ Mariya Koryttseva (Ukr) 6-2, 4-6, 10-8; Jarmila Gajdosova (Svk)/ Christina Horiatopoulous (Aus) bt Yulia Beygelzimer/ Yuliana Fedak (Ukr) 6-3, 6-3.

First round: Shikha Uberoi (Ind)/ Neha Uberoi (USA) beat Isha Lakhani (Ind)/ Sandhya Nagaraj (Ind) 6-4, 6-0.

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