Kolkata: Sania Mirza started off her Sunfeast Open campaign in style with a thumping straight set win over compatriot Rushmi Chakravarthi.
As former India cricket captain Saurav Ganguly watched on with the others, it took Sania less than an hour to win the first round encounter 6-0, 6-4.
Sania, looking to silence her critics after a lacklustre season, came out with some brilliant tennis.
She gained the upper hand early, breaking former national champion Rushmi Chakravarthi in her first service game and never looked back and was cheered wildly by the crowd took the first set 6-0.
The second set saw Rushmi hold her serve for the first time. The match balanced at two-all when Sania broke her opponent to take a 3-2 lead.
Rushmi had no answers to Mirza's powerpacked game and it was just a matter of time before the 19-year-old wrapped up the match in 54 minutes.
Sania who went down to Melinda Czink in the second round last year will be hoping for a better result this time around.
'Gracious' Sourav floors Sania
Sania Mirza on Tuesday acknowledged the 'graciousness' of former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly in coming over to watch her match at the Sunfeast Open WTA tennis tournament in Kolkata.
"Me and Sourav are pretty good friends. I spoke to him this morning. And he said he will come for the match. I told him that I know how popular he is and that the crowd will go berserk seeing him," Sania told mediapersons after her opening round win in the tournament.
"It's great that Sourav came here and watched the match," said Sania.
Ganguly, who sat in the VIP enclosure in the company of several cricketers from Bengal, was seen enthusiastically applauding every shot of the 19-year-old Hyderabadi.
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