Sania Mirza faces 19-year-old Yaroslava Shvedova of Russia in the women's singles first round of the Wimbledon tennis championships beginning here Monday.Friday's draw pitted Sania, ranked 46th in the world, against the 80th ranked Russian, who could not get past the opening round in her maiden appearance last year.
Sania, who turns 21 in November, has herself never advanced beyond the second round at Wimbledon in her previous two outings.
In the doubles, Sania partners Shahar Peer of Israel. They face Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden and Lilia Osterloh of the US in the opening round.
Among the men, India's Leander Paes and Martin Damm of the Czech Republic are seeded fifth in doubles and will face Chris Haggard of South Africa and Marcin Matkowski of Poland in the first round.
Paes, who turned 37 last week, and 34-year-old Damm have had an indifferent Grand Slam season so far this year. The pair lost in the third round of the Australian Open in January and failed to get past the second at the French Open last month.
Mahesh Bhupathi, the other Indian in the men's doubles competition, is seeded 11 along with Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic. The duo kick off their campaign against Christopher Kas of Germany and Alexander Peya of Austria.
Paes and Bhupathi have been unable to repeat their 1999 performance when they reached the doubles of all four grand slam events, winning the French Open and Wimbledon.
Source: http://www.aol.in/sports/story/2007062209039012000005/index.html
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