Sania Mirza got off to a slow start, but managed to escape a second-round defeat to Tatiana Poutchek at the WTA Bangalore Open here today. The first set slipped away from the Indian, but she blazed ahead to a lead in the second. However, the Belarussian stormed back to level the scores, but could not stop Mirza from edging her out 7-5 to take the match to a decider.The third set began in a manner that made the home favourite’s intentions clear — building on a 3-0 lead, Mirza eventually wrapped up the match 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Her next opponent will be Yaroslava Shvedova of Russia.Earlier, Olga Savchuk of Ukraine staged a miraculous comeback to upstage Alicia Molik of Australia.The 153rd-ranked Savchuk trailed all the way but nosed ahead when it mattered most to wrap up a thrilling 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win. Defending champion and top seed Mara Santangelo downed Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to make the last eight. Melinda Czink of Hungary carved out a 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 victory over Su-Wei Hsieh of Taipei.
