Sania-Elena in Madrid Open pre-quarters

Sania Mirza and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina advanced to the pre-quarter-finals of the Madrid Open with a come-from-behind win over the eighth seeded Czech team of Iveta Benesova and Barbora Strycova Zahlavova.

The unseeded Indo-Russia combination scored a 3-6, 6-1, 10-2 win over their opponents in the first round of the euro 3,500,000 clay-court event.

They next take on Russia's Nadia Petrova and Australia's Anastasia Rodionova.

Nadia and Anastasia defeated Russia's Vera Dushevina and Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus 6-3, 6-4 in another first round match.