New York, Sep 1 (IANS) Though India's Sania Mirza crashed out of the women's singles of the US Open after giving Italian 14th seed Francesca Schiavone a tough battle, she made it to the second round of the doubles event.

A gritty and determined Sania, 19, lost 7-5, 1-6, 2-6 in the singles second round Thursday as the more experienced Italian mounted pressure unleashing half a dozen aces to a solitary one from her at Flushing Meadows on a cool and breezy day four of the tournament.

Later partnering Liezel Huber of South Africa, Sania easily overcame the all American team of Angela Haynes and Neha Uberoi 6- 4, 6-0 to enter the second round of the doubles event.

In the singles, it took Schiavone two hours and 18 minutes to overcome Sania's challenge after surviving an error-laden second round match. She meets Israel's Shahar Peer in the third round.

In terms of speed and accuracy too, Sania could not match the Italian who clocked 113 mph on her fastest serve as against the Hyderabadi girl's 107 mph. Her first serve at an average of 95 mph was also slower than Schiavone's 99.

Only on her second serve was Sania a notch faster with an average speed of 82 mph to the Italian's 81 mph.

In all Schiavone won a total of 105 points committing 33 unforced errors compared to Sania's 89 with 45 such errors.

Both players struggled to hold serve and there were 11 breaks in the match. Sania sent in only 48 percent of the first serves while Schiavone was only marginally better at 51 percent.

Sania started with a blaze of blistering ground strokes as Schiavone tried to adjust to the Indian's power. The Italian barely held on to her first service game as Sania raced off to a 4-1 lead, breaking twice.

But Schiavone gradually clawed her way back, winning four games in a row before Sania gathered her game again to win the first set 7-5 in 58 minutes. Sania, however, was unable to hold a single service game in the second set and folded under pressure from her opponent to go down 1-6 in 33 minutes.

After losing her opening service game of the third set, Sania let her opponent off the hook. Though the Italian was stretched in each of the service games, she did not let Sania regain the advantage. Like the second, Schiavone then cruised through the third set to win 6-2 in 47 minutes.

Meanwhile, eighth-seeded Martina Hingis was knocked out of the tournament Thursday night, falling to Virginie Razzano in straight sets under the lights at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. She lost 2-6, 4-6.

Former champions and former world No. 1s Justine Henin-Hardenne, Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams were a trio of second-round winners Thursday. Another former top-ranked star, Maria Sharapova, and another past title holder here, Svetlana Kuznetsova, also reached the third round on Day 4.

The second-seeded Henin-Hardenne drilled American Vania King 6-1, 6-2, as the Belgian star is seeking her fourth trip to a Grand Slam final this year. The third-seeded Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champ, destroyed France's Emilie Loit 6-0, 6-1.

The 10th-seeded Davenport double-bageled helpless Croat Jelena Kostanic 6-0, 6-0 in a mere 40 minutes.

An unseeded Williams came back to oust 17th-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 7-5, 6-3. Serena is a seven-time Grand Slam champion, including US Open titles in 1999 and 2002. She lost to her big sister Venus in the 2001 final here.

[photo: Tarun Sonania]