3 Indians in main draw of Jr. Aussie Open

Indian junior lass Sania Mirza has been seeded 12th in the junior girls' singles at the Australian Open.

The Hyderabadi girl, who is currently ranked 27th on the ITF listings, will face Ivana Jovanovich of New Zealand in the first round.

Sania is placed in the upper half of the draw, with Myriam Casanova of Switzerland as her potential third round opponent.

Another Indian girl in the main draw, Megha Vakharia will face second seeded Marion Bartoli of France in the first round.

In the boys' singles, Amanjot Singh is the lone Indian in the main draw. Placed in the lower half of the draw and ranked 47th on the ITF listing, Singh will face Robert Smeets of Australia in the first round.

Earlier in the qualifying round, sixth seeded Rohan Gajjar, lost in the second round to the 14th seed Daniel Sebescen of Yugoslavia 0-6, 4-6, after defeating Dejan Cvetkovic of Canada 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the first.

This was Rohan's third defeat against Sebescen in the last two weeks. Earlier the Indian had lost twice at the Australian Hardcourts championships at Glen Waverly, Melbourne, last week.

Rishi Behl and Sujay Reddy went down in the first round. Behl lost to 12th seed Sratha Saengsuwarn of Thailand 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, while Reddy lost to 14th seed Daniel Sebescen of Yugoslavia 5-7, 1-6.

In the girls' section, 14th seeded Sasha Abraham lost to Australian Lauren Cheung 4-6, 1-6 in the first round.