Sania Mirza storms into Hobart semis

NEW DELHI: Sania Mirza continued to roll as she stormed into the semifinals of the Moorilla International Open with a straight-set victory over home favourite Alicia Molik in Hobart on Wednesday.

The 20-year old Indian thrashed Molik, her doubles partner, 6-4 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the USD 145,000 WTA Tour event, a lead up to the Australian Open starting Monday.

Sania, however, tasted defeat in the doubles as she and Molik went down fighting 6-7 (5) 6-7 (1) to second seeds Maria Elena Camerin of Italy and Gisela Dulko of Russia in the quarterfinals.

In Sydney, the Indo-French pair of Mahesh Bhupati and Fabrice Santoro bit the dust with a 1-6, 6-7 (6) loss to Paul Hanley of Australia and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe in the quarterfinals at the USD 436,000 Medibank International on the ATP Tour.