Indian star Sania Mirza survived a bad day for seeded players to advance to the second round of the 175,000-dollar WTA Kolkata Open here yesterday.
The 20-year-old fifth seed, hoping to improve her ranking after slipping to 70 from a personal best of 31 last year, scored an emphatic 6-0, 6-4 win over local qualifier Rushmi Chakravarty in the first round.
Mirza, cheered by some 500 home fans that included former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, said she was delighted to be back in the sports-mad city of Kolkata.
"I am here after a year and obviously there was pressure on me to perform in front of Indian fans," said Mirza, who is expected to meet top-seed Martina Hingis in the semi-finals.
"It's great to play in Kolkata. People love their sport and we are treated like movie stars. But I think the crowd was more excited about Ganguly being there than about the match.
"I have matured both as a player and a person and this year was not as bad as people are making it out to be.
"There is the pressure of defending points, but that is not everything. The pressure won't go away. I just have to change my attitude towards it," said Mirza.
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