Sania, Leander script winning rounds

Sania Mirza sustained her sparkling form to move into the singles quarter-finals with a facile straight-set win over Romina Oprandi of Italy at the Moorilla International Open women’s tennis tournament in Hobart...

Sania Mirza sustained her sparkling form to move into the singles quarter-finals with a facile straight-set win over Romina Oprandi of Italy at the Moorilla International Open women’s tennis tournament in Hobart, Tasmania, today.

Wild card entrant Sania, ranked 66th in the world, downed Oprandi 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-0 in the second round at the $ 145,000 hardcourt event on the WTA Tour. She plays her doubles partner Alicia Molik in the quarter-final.

The 20-year-old Indian had ousted world No. 29 Maria Kirilenko of Russia in the first round yesterday. On the men’s Tour, Leander Paes and Czech Republic’s Martin Damm defeated Lukas Dlouzy and Pavel Vizner 7-6 (2), 6-2 in their opening round tie at the

Story continues below this ad

$ 436,000 Medibank International in Sydney. The reigning US Open champions, who reached the final of the Qatar Open in Doha last week, were seeded fourth.

Mahesh Bhupathi and his French partner Fabrice Santoro registered a facile 6-4, 6-3 win over the Israeli pair of Jonathon Erlich and Andy Ram to move into the quarter finals of the doubles event. In the battle that lasted for over one hour, the Indo-French pair had little trouble in getting past their rivals.

In the second round, they will meet third seeded Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett.