STOCKHOLM: Sania Mirza defeated France’s Emilie Loit to advance to the second round of the Nordic Light Open in the Swedish capital on Wednesday.

The sixth seeded Indian won 6-3, 6-2.

Federer struggles

Roger Federer came close to suffering three successive losses for the first time in five years before scrambling to a 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-0 win over Robbie Ginepri at the Cincinnati Masters on Tuesday.

Federer was staring defeat in the face when he lost his serve to go 5-6 down in the second set, but Ginepri, an American ranked down at 64 in the world, did not quite have what it took to close the match out.

Had he done so it would have left the door open for Rafael Nadal to end Federer’s record four-and-half year reign as world No. 1 this week.

The results: At Cincinnati: Western & Southern Financial Group Masters: Second round: Ivo Karlovic bt Jose Acasuso 6-3, 7-6(3); Roger Federer bt Robby Ginepri 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-0; Robin Soderling bt Tommy Robredo 7-6(6), 6-4. First round: Simone Bolelli bt Kevin Anderson 6-3, 7-6(1); Fernando Verdasco bt Victor Estrella 6-3, 7-5; Nicolas Lapentti bt Marin Cilic 7-6(5), 6-2; Carlos Moya bt Janko Tipsarevic 7-6(5), 7-5; Chris Guccione bt Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-4; Arnaud Clement bt Thomas Johansson 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-3; Florent Serra bt Benjamin Becker 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4; John Isner bt Andrea Stoppini 7-6(2), 6-3; Richard Gasquet bt Michael Llodra 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (retd).

At Montreal: Rogers Cup: Second round: Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1, 1-0 retired; Dominika Cibulkova bt Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-2; Virginie Razzano bt Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(2). First round: Alisa Kleybanova bt Ahsha Rolle 6-4, 6-2; Ai Sugiyama bt Nicole Vaidisova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; Maria Kirilenko bt Anne Keothavong 6-1, 7-5; Victoria Azarenka bt Jamea Jackson 6-1, 6-1.

At Stockholm: Nordic Light Open: Second round: Katarina Srebotnik bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-4. F irst round : Sania Mirza bt Emilie Loit 6-3, 6-2; Virginia Ruano bt Maria Jose Martinez 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2; Johanna Larsson bt Julia Goerges 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4; Maria Elena Camerin bt Marina Erakovic 6-3, 6-4; Mariya Koryttseva bt Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-4; Agnieszka Radwanska bt Nathalie Dechy 6-2, 6-3.