By Jilawatan

Leander Paes advanced in men’s doubles, but it was curtains for Sania Mirza who crashed out of the women’s singles event following a straight-set loss to 12th seed Italian Flavia Pennetta in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Sania lost 3-6, 4-6 after battling it out for over an hour against the Italian, who now leads the head-to-head 3-2.

The loss ended Sania’s campaign at the $ 4.5-million event. She had already been ousted in the first round of the doubles event.

Fourth seeds Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, meanwhile, carved out a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 win over unseeded Austrians Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer in the opening round.

Paes and Dlouhy will take on another unseeded team – Argentines Juan Martin Del Potro and David Nalbandian – in the second round.

Earlier in the tournament, the third-seeded pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Bahamas’ Mark Knowles had edged past Russians Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn 7-5, 6-3 in their opening-round match.