Mirza Mesmerizes Home Crowd at WTA Bangalore

"The first match is always tough but I'm happy with how I played," Mirza said. "You can't take any match for granted, ranking doesn't mean too much on the day as there is so much depth in women's tennis. It doesn't matter if you are ranked 100 or 500, you can still cause an upset...Yes there is pressure for all athletes to play at home. The Indian cricket team feels it, we all do. But still it's great to win here."

No. 3 Mara Santangelo (d. Nagyova) was the other lone seed to advance Tuesday as Russia's Anastassia Rodionova (d. (4) Bammer 6-0 in the third) and the Ukraine's Yuliana Fedak (d. (8) Laine who retired with tonsillitis) recorded upsets.

Indian wildcard Isha Lakhani received a gift when qualifier Katarina Kachlikova retired in the first set of their match with an eye infection.

Other un-seeds into the second round were American Vania King (d. (Q) Poutchek), Israel's Tzipora Obziler (d. Hsieh), Russian qualifier Alla Kudryavtseva (d. Tanasugarn from a set down), and Estonia's Kaia Kanepi (d. (WC) Bhambri).

Slated for Wednesday in Bangalore are Kostanic vs. Daniela "Kid-Tested" Kix, Camerin vs. Peer, Mirza vs. Pin, A.Bondarenko vs. Rodionova, Koryttseva vs. Melinda "The Fifth Element" Czink, and King vs. Pratt.