Sania Mirza beats Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland to enter the women’s singles third round in Australian Open on Thursday.

In a battle lasting for one hour and 44 minutes, Sania got the better of Timea 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

In the next round, Sania has the uphill task of taking on eighth-seeded Venus Williams of the USA. The American defeated Camille Pin of France 7-5, 6-4 to book a berth in the third round.

Sania banked on the unforced errors of her opponent to wrap up the first set in style.

But Timea fought back strongly in the second set. Both the players committed an identical 17 unforced errors. However, Sania’s three double faults pumped up the Swiss girl who unleashed 10 winners to draw parity.

Mirza has struggled with injury over the last year, and the problems have continued in 2008. She had an average outing in the Hopman Cup team event before reaching the quarter-finals of a Tier-IV event in Hobart.