Sania Mirza and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina made a shock first round exit in the WTA Rogers Cup tennis tournament after losing to the Italian pair of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in the women's doubles event here.
The fifth-seeded Indo-Russian pair squandered a set lead to eventually go down 6-2, 0-6, 7-10 to their Italian opponents.
After winning the first set comfortably, Sania and Vesnina failed to maintain the momentum and failed to pocket even a single game to lose the next set 0-6.
In the decider, the Indo-Russian pair did manage to pose a challenge but Errani and Vinci sealed the match in their favour with a 10-7 scoreline in the tie-breaker.
Earlier, Sania failed to make it to the main draw of the singles event here after losing in a marathon three-setter to Germany's Kathrin Woerle in the qualifiers.
Before this tournament, Sania had lost in the first rounds of Citi Open and Mercury Insurance Open. She though did well in the doubles event by winning the title at the Citi Open with a new partner, Yaroslav Shvedova of Kazakhstan.
Sania now has two more tournaments to prepare for the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the season.