Sports India

Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez and rising Indian star Sania Mirza earned first-round wins in the Dubai Women�s Open on Monday.

Martinez, the oldest woman in the draw at 32, defeated Shinobu Asagoe of Japan 6-3, 6-4, while Mirza, the youngest at 18, beat Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-1.

Also, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro breezed past Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-3, 6-1.

Martinez, who ended a five-year title drought by winning in Pattaya City in January, raced to 5-1 in the first set, and broke Asagoe in the fifth game of the second for the match.

Mirza, the first Indian woman to win a WTA Tour title this month on home ground at Hyderabad, let slip a 4-1 lead in the first set against Kostanic, who prevailed 7-2 in a tiebreaker.

Mirza, however, regrouped and used her forehand to telling effect to set up a second-round match against U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

�She is a great player,� said Mirza. �But everyone is beatable and I am looking forward to a great match.�

Earlier, the Dubai tournament made history by becoming the first outside the U.S. Open and Australian Open to offer equal prize money for men and women.

The Dubai Women�s Open, which previously paid US$585,000 in total prize money, will pay out US$1 million this week, matching the ATP�s Dubai Open, which ended on Sunday with Swiss world No. 1 Roger Federer defeating Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.