Indian tennis star Sania Mirza made an impressive start at the 2009 HP Japan Women's Open with an upset victory over fifth seed Shahar Peer to move to the next round.

Mirza lost the opening set rather tamely but fought off a series of blistering forehands and well placed serves by the Israeli to complete the 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win after almost two hours of play.

Meanwhile, fourth seed Francesca Schiavone stayed on course for a title triumph at the last phase of the Asian Swing with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Luxembourg's Anne Kramer in a match that lasted one hour and 41 minutes of play.

The Italian was later joined by seventh seeded Hungarian Melinda Czink, who edged past local favourite Ryoko Fuda 6-4, 6-4 to reach the next round.

In another upset from the day, unseeded Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson battled past Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 in a marathon two hours and 26 minute tussle.

Other notable winners of the day included Katie O' Brien, Viktoriya Kutuzova and final qualifying round winners Anastasia Rodionova, Kai-Chen Chang, Sophie Ferguson and Chanelle Scheepers, who all made it to the main draw with contrasting wins over their respective opponents.