Sania Mirza's good show in doubles continued as she and her new partner Patty Schnyder of Switzerland cruised into the quarter-finals of the Kremlin Cup here.
She and partner Schnyder make last eight of the Kremlin Cup with a 6-1 6-3 win
MOSCOW: Sania Mirza's good show in doubles continued as she and her new partner Patty Schnyder of Switzerland cruised into the quarter-finals of the Kremlin Cup here.
The Indo-Swiss combination easily overcame the challenge of Vera Dushevina of Russia and Tatiana Perebiyinis of Ukraine 6-1 6-3 to move into the last eight of the 1,340,000 dollar Tier I hard court event.
However, tough challenge is in the offing for Sania-Schnyder duo as they will take on top seed Cara Black of Zimbabwe and American Liezel Huber in the next round.
The Zimbabwean-American pair got the better of Russian girls Maria Kirilenko and Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-3 in the opening round. In the singles, Sania had already been eliminated in the first round by Gisela Dulko of Argentina.
Zvonareva ends jinx
Russia's Vera Zvonareva stunned sixth seeded Amelie Mauresmo 4-6 6-3 6-4 to advance to the second round of the Kremlin Cup on Wednesday with her first ever victory over the Frenchwoman.
After battling for over two hours, unseeded Zvonareva scored a decisive break in the ninth game of the third set before clinching the win on her first opportunity when the 11th-ranked Frenchwoman hit a wild backhand on match point.
It was Zvonareva's first victory over the former world number one following seven straight defeats.
"Finally I was able to beat her, it feels great," the 24th-ranked Muscovite said.
Zvonareva's reward for defeating the Frenchwoman is a match against rising Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Russia's Maria Kirilenko in the first round.
In the men's draw, Mauresmo's compatriot Paul-Henri Mathieu fared much better.
The fourth seed, who won his first career title in Moscow five years ago, became the first player on the men's side to reach the quarter-finals with a straight-forward 6-3 6-4 win over Russian wildcard Igor Kunitsyn.
Later on Wednesday, top women's seed Svetlana Kuznetsova faces Argentina's Gisela Dulko while second seed and fellow Russian Maria Sharapova meets Belarussian teenager Victoria Azarenka.
Britain's third seed Andy Murray is also in action as he makes his Moscow debut against Russian teenager Evgeny Korolev.
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