French Open: Sania-Bethanie lose in first round

Paris: India's Sania Mirza and American Bethanie Mattek-Sands were knocked out by Russian-Romanian combine of Nina Bratchikova and Edina Gallovits-Hall in the women's doubles first round at the French Open here Tuesday.

The fifteenth seeds went down fighting. Recovering from a set down, they, however, failed to win points on their serve to finally lose 3-6, 6-4, 5-7 to the unseeded pair.

The loss is a blow for the Indian, who is trying to keep herself in the top-10 of the WTA rankings before the June 11 cut-off date for London Olympics.

Sania made the finals at the Roland Garros in 2011 with Russia's Elene Vesnina. The Hyderabadi won the Brussels Open with Bethanie last week. (IANS)