Sania makes successful return

Sania Mirza made a successful return to the courts with a straight-set victory in the women's doubles first round at the USD 600,000 WTA Tour tennis event in Paris, France, on Monday.

Sania, who took a week off after the Australian Open Grand Slam to recuperate from her left-knee tendonitis, combined with Liezel Huber of South Africa to defeat Liga Dekmeijere of Latvia and Jasmin Woehr of Germany 6-1, 6-4 in the Tier 2 hard court event.

The 19-year old Indian is slated to play Flavia Penetta, the Italian sixth seed, in the singles first round of the 32-draw event, which has home favourite and Australian Open champion Amelie Mauresmo and compatriot Mary Pierce as the top two seeds.

Sania, despite the lay-off, saw her ranking move up two places to be 32 after the weekly WTA updates.