Sania Mirza recorded her fourth top-20 win in a week to set up a blockbuster quarterfinal clash with world no. 2 Maria Sharapova.
SAN DIEGO (California): Sania Mirza recorded her fourth top-20 win in a week to set up a blockbuster quarterfinal clash with world no. 2 Maria Sharapova at the $600,000 Acura Classic women's tennis event.
Sania, who has been on a roll the past fortnight, sustained her awesome form to demolish eighth seed Dinara Safina of Russia, world ranked 14, 6-1 6-2 in a third round match on Thursday.
For the 20-year-old Indian, it will be a rematch of the US Open fourth round in 2005 against Sharapova, the top seed at the Tier 1 WTA Tour event.
The Russian, a Wimbledon and US Open champion, won 6-2 6-1 two years ago, but the Hyderabadi girl could make significant impact this time.
"It was just a matter of time until I started playing well again," Sania said after her match against Safina.
"It was a matter of getting through those close matches and winning them. I've been working on my fitness, my weakness. I've been improving on a daily basis."
The Indian, who is unseeded this week, beat world no. 18 Shahar Peer, also her doubles partner, in the first round.
She also won against 17th ranked Patty Schnyder of Switzerland and Tatiana Golovin of France, ranked 19th, last week at Stanford.
Beside she also has three career top 10 wins, something Sharapova would be mindful of when the two square off later on Friday.
"I played Sania a long time ago," said Sharapova, who routed Tatiana Golovin 6-0 6-3 to reach the last-eight stage.
"She is playing really good tennis and is a dangerous opponent," Sharapova said.
The Russian herself was in top form as she won the first nine games of the match before Golovin got on the board.
"I stayed focused and played smart and aggressive. I'm moving well," she said.
However, it turned out be a disappointing day for Sania in doubles as she and Peer crashed out in the second round.
The Indo-Israeli pair lost to Su-Wei Hseih (Taipei) and Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 6-3 3-6 10-12.
Sania, who was playing Safina for the first time, outpaced her on the baseline and struck powerful strokes to take a 5-0 lead in the first set.
Safina, younger sister of the mercurial Marat Safin, threw her raquet in frustration after sending a forehand wide to drop serve for the third time in the set.
Safina managed to get a break in the sixth game when Sania double faulted on break point but that ended up being the only game the Russian won in the opening set.
Sania then squandered a breakpoint by hitting a forehand long before closing out the set on the next chance with an inside out forehand down the line.
Safina tried to claw her way back into the match by breaking Sania at love to open the second set. However, the Indian broke back and went on to take a 4-1 lead.
Two games later, Sania broke her rival once more, at love, to seal the match after an hour and four minutes.
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