A TOUGH Olympic draw pitted Sania Mirza against her Czech nemesis Iveta Benesova in the first round and even if she clears this hurdle, greater danger awaits the Hyderabadi in the second round where former World No 1 Venus Williams is likely to cross swords with her.

The men's doubles pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, however, got a better deal with the 'Indian Express' duo kicking off their campaign against the French pair of Gael Monfils and Gilles Simons on Sunday.

Unfortunately, Sania has not been similarly lucky. In fact, clearing the first round hurdle in singles would prove a tough task for the World No 60, who has been not in the best of her form of late.

Past records also provide no glimmer of hope as Sania's all three previous attempts to crack the Benesova code came to a zilch with the Czech, currently World No 56, having the last laugh on all three occasions incidentally all via three-setters.

The Sania-Benesova duel dates back to 2005 in Los Angeles where the Czech won it 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 and history was repeated next year at S'Hertogenbosch. This year, they met in Stockholm and though Sania seized early initiative by winning the first set, the Czech came back from behind to maintain a 3-0 lead in the head-to-head count.

But assuming Sania manages to pull it off this time, she is set to run into reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in the next.

In the women's doubles, the makeshift pair of Sania and Sunitha Rao was handed a draw that makes their progress beyond the second round quite a doubt.

The Indians will have to be on their toes against the French pair of Tatiana Golovin and Pauline Parmentier and once they win that battle, they are likely to face top-seeded Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina in the second round.

In the men's doubles, India's best bet Paes and Bhupathi will meet the Gael-Gilles pair in the first round and going by rankings, the French pair should not prove much of a trouble for the Indians.

In the second round, they would meet the winners of the Czech pair of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek and the Brazilian duo of Marcelo Melon and Andrea Sa.

Incidentally, Stepanek had won an ATP title with Paes in 2004 and had also teamed up with Bhupathi subsequently.