Sania Mirza crashed out of the Australian Open following a 3-6, 2-6 second round loss to Japan's Aiko Nakamura in Melbourne on Thursday.
The Indian was erratic throughout, committing 26 double-faults, as Nakamura outplayed her in just over an hour to set up a third round clash with Switzerland's Martina Hingis.
Nakamura, it seemed, had learnt her lessons from the 2005 loss to Sania in the Japan Open -- the only face-off between the two players before today -- and was clearly the more disciplined and broke the Indian thrice in the opening set.
Sania also managed to convert the two break-points that came her way but never looked in her elements, committing 12 unforced errors compared to Nakamura's six, as she surrendered the first set in just 33 minutes.
The second set followed almost the same script and Nakamura gave no chance to the world number 53, breaking her twice.
The Hyderabadi star wasted two break-points and served poorly, committing three double faults apart from 14 unforced errors before bowing out of the singles event at the first Grand Slam of the year.
But there was some good fortune for the Indian ace later. She and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain defeated Sandra Kloesel of Germany and Aravane Rezai of France 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the second round of the doubles event.
Also racing into the third round of the singles was Kim Clijsters. The Belgian scored a 6-3, 6-0 win over Japan's Akiko Morigami. She will next play Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko.
Light rain caused delays on outside courts, with matches held up by at least 90 minutes.
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