Dubai: Sania Mirza squandered a one-set lead to crash out of the qualifying event of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, losing the first round match to Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak.
Sania won the first set comfortably but could not keep the tempo going as she lost 6-2, 3-6, 2-6 in the opening round of the $2,000,000 hard court event.
The Indian would now hope to do well in the doubles event, where she and partner Elena Vesnina are seeded second. They will play against Oman's Fatma Al Nabhani and Slovakia's Andreja Klepac.
Meanwhile, Sania dropped 16 places out of top-100 to find herself at 113 in the singles ranking list.
Sania had played in the doubles event of the Doha tournament last week but did not compete in the singles.
However, she maintained her seventh rank in the doubles list. She had lost in the first round of the Doha event with Russian partner Elena Vesnina.
In the ATP list, out of action Somdev Dev Barman dropped to 122, a loss of two places. But a resurgent Yuki Bhambri rose to career-best 289, a jump of eight places.
In the doubles list, Leander Paes continues to be India's top-ranked player at No. 7, followed by Rohan Bopanna (11) and Mahesh Bhupathi (15).
The top-10 player will make a direct entry into the Olympics and will have the liberty to choose the partner for the doubles competition.
In the men's rankings, Novak Djokovic maintains his No.1 position, followed by Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
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