India's Sania Mirza bowed out of the Australian Open after a brave fight against multiple Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in the third round in Melbourne on Saturday.
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Sania, who served for the first set at 5-4, went down 6-7 (0), 4-6 to the American eighth seed in an exciting evening session match.
The Venus-Sania contest was delayed at the Rod Laver Arena as defending champion Roger Federer was stretched to five sets by Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic. Federer came through 6-7, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 in more than four hours.
The Indian 31th seed started in a destructive mood, drilling her forehand flat and deep.
She got the break in the fifth game of the first set, but could not serve out the set at 5-4.
Sania saved two set points in the 12th game to force it into the tie-break, but failed to gain a single point there.
With the momentum with her, Venus played better in the second set-- serving big and moving better on the court. Though Sania ran her close, the American prevailed 6-4 to keep her Australian hope alive.
The elder of the Williams sisters, winner of four Wimbledon and two US Open titles, is yet to win at Melbourne Park.
She will meet the winner of the match between China's La Ni and Marta Domachowska of Poland in the round of 16.
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