Sania enters 2nd round of US Open

New Delhi: Sania Mirza cruised to the second round of the US Open women's singles by beating Croatia's Karolina Sprem 6-4, 6-2.

Sania will now take on 14th seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the second round.

The win will surely boost her morale after her fortunes hit a new low as she dropped out of the top-50 in world rankings for the first time in more than a year.

In the latest rankings issued by the WTA, Mirza went down 10 places and is now placed on the 54th position.

There have not been any major surprises in the US Open so far. Justine Henin Hardene, Lindsay Davenport and Andy Roddick all registered easy wins to reach the second round.

Justine Henin-Hardenne began her bid for a second US Open women's singles title with a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 win over Italy's Maria Elena Camerin.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, women's singles champion in 2004, seemed in danger of going out to Germany's Sandra Kloesel but gathered herself to progress to the next round by winning 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

Davenport showed no signs of the shoulder injury that threatened to rule her out of the tournament as she defeated Klara Zakopalova 6-1 6-4

Andy Roddick, champion at Flushing Meadows in 2003, made short work of France's Florent Serra and under the watchful eye of coach Jimmy Connors, cruised through to the second round 6-2 6-1 6-3.

(With inputs from Himanshu Singhal)