The 20-year-old Indian, who registered her maiden win at Roland Garros yesterday, was outclassed by Ivanovic 1-6, 4-6 in an hour and five minutes.

The seventh seeded Ivanovic, now based in Switzerland, slammed seven aces and converted three of the five breakpoints she forced against her Indian rival.

Sania was, however, richer by 23,760 euros for reaching the second round.

She now has a 1-3 win-loss record on clay this season, after her first round exits in Morocco and Turkey in the preceding weeks.

After the loss...

I didn’t hit a ball for nine weeks ... I feel like I’ve had to start from scratch again, she said.

My left leg still feels a lot stronger than my right. I am pleased though because I thought it would take a lot longer to start hitting the ball right again, and clay isn’t my favourite surface.

I’m really looking forward to getting back on grass. I expect I will have an interesting few matches in Birmingham on the way to Wimbledon

The Indian, who has hired the services of coach Gabriel Urpi during the fortnight at French Open, was paired with Eva Birnerova of the Czech Republic in the doubles. The Indo-Czech duo was up against the top seeded pair of American Lisa Raymond and Australian Samantha Stosur. Sania would be partnering Fabrice Santoro in mixed doubles.

Bhupathi, Paes advance: The unseeded pair of Indian star Mahesh Bhupathi and Czech Radek Stepanek brought about an upset of sorts in the men’s doubles when they cruised past the Polish 12th seeded pair of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-4, 6-0 in the first set. They will take on Guillermo Garcia Lopez (Spain) and Filippo Volandri (Italy) in the next round.

Meanwhile, the third seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Martin Damm quelled the challenge of local hopes Jeremy Chardy and Jonathan Eysseric 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2) to advance to the second round of French Open here.

Paes and Damm were stretched by the local combination but the experienced Indo-Czech duo ultimately prevailed over them yesterday. The third seeds were hardly impressive and wasted several opportunities during their patchy display. They could convert just one break point out of 10 that came their way. Paes and Damm will next take on the winners of the match between Michael Kohlmann and Rainer Schuettler of Germany and the Russian-Chilean pair of Teimuraz Gabashvili and Nicolas Massu.

Sania Mirza at Grand Slams

Singles

Debut Year: 2005

• Australian Open: lost in third round to eventual winner Serena Williams

• French Open: lost in first round to Gisela Dulko

• Wimbledon: lost in second round to No. five seed Svetlana Kuznetsova

• US Open: lost in fourth round to top seed Maria Sharapova

In 2006

• Australian Open: lost in second round to Michaella Krajicek

• French Open: lost in first round to Anastasia Myskina

• Wimbledon: lost in first round to Elena Dementieva

• US Open: lost in second round to Francesca Schiavone

IN 2007

• Australian Open: lost in second round to Aiko Nakamura

• French Open: lost in second round to Ana Ivanovic