Sania Mirza-Shuai Zhang pair lose in Indian Wells opener

Sania and her partner collected 10 WTA points and $16,870 despite the opening round defeat.

Mirza (left) and her partner Zhang (right) lost their match in three sets.

Sania Mirza in partnership with Shuai Zhang of China went down fighting to the third seeds from Japan, Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara who prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 15-13 in the doubles first round of the $8,150,470 WTA tennis tournament in Indian Wells. Sania and partner collected 10 WTA points and $16,870. In the $25,000 ITF women’s event in the US, Pranjala Yadlapalli reached the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Maria Kozyreva of Russia. In the ITF women’s event in Tunisia, Sharmada Balu and Sravya Shivani were beaten in the semifinals, after they had knocked out the top seeds in the quarterfinals.

The results: $8,150,470 WTA, Indian Wells, US Doubles (first round) : Shuko Aoyama & Ena Shibahara (Jpn) bt Shuai Zhang (Chn) & Sania Mirza 4-6, 6-3, [15-13]. $25,000 ITF men, Setubal, Portugal Doubles (quarterfinals) : Pedro Araujo & Fabio Coelho (Por) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 5-7, 6-0, [10-8]. $15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia Doubles (semifinals) : Grigoriy Lomakin (Kaz) & Niki Poonacha bt Kazuki Nishiwaki & Kosuke Ogura (Jpn) 7-6(4), 4-6, [10-7]. $15,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Singles (quarterfinals) : Petr Hajek (Cze) bt SD Prajwal Dev 7-5, 6-2. $15,000 ITF men, Doha, Qatar Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Dominik Boehler (GEr) bt Bharath Kumaran 6-1, 6-0. Doubles (quarterfinals): Patrik Niklas-Salminen (Fin) & Saketh Myneni bt Mousa Shanan Zayed (Qat) & Shabaaz Khan 6-2, 6-4; Hanwen Li (Chn) & Beibit Zhukayev (Kaz) bt Liro Vasa (Fin) & Dev Javia 6-2, 6-3. $25,000 ITF women, Loule, Portugal Doubles (quarterfinals): Marina Bassols Ribera & Olga Parres Azcoitia (Esp) bt Akvile Parazinskaite (Ltu) & Sathwika Sama 6-3, 6-0; Francisca Jorge & Matilde Jorge (Por) bt Ganna Poznikhirenko (Ukr) & Prarthana Thombare 4-6, 6-0, [10-7]. $25,000 ITF women, Redding, US Singles (pre-quarterfinals) : Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Maria Kozyreva (Rus) 6-1, 6-3. $15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia Doubles (semifinals): Ma YeXin & Ni Ma Zhuoma (Chn) bt Sharmada Balu & Sravya Shivani 7-6(4), 4-6, [10-4]; Quarterfinals: Sharmada & Sravya bt Yasmine Mansouri (Fra) & Federica Rossi (Ita) 6-2, 4-6, [10-8]. $15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Doubles (semifinals): Rebeka Stolmar (Hun) & Ashmitha Easwaramurthi bt Li Zongyu & Wang Jiaqi (Chn) 6-4, 6-4.