Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza advanced to the quarter-finals of the Family Circle Cup WTA tournament in Charleston, US, with a straight-set victory over Sabine Lisicki of Germany.
Sania, who made it to the main draw through the qualifying rounds, beat the German wild card entrant 6-4, 6-4 in the second round singles match of the US $721,000 prize-money clay court event.
She now meets 11th seed Shuai Peng of China.
Peng upset seventh seed Russian Nadia Petrova 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 in another second round match.
Sania has also reached the quarter-finals in the doubles event with partner Elena Vesnina of Russia.
The unseeded Indo-Russian duo had pulled off a big upset, ousting second seeds and strong contenders Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in straight sets in the first round.
In the doubles quarter-finals, they will take on the Russian-Australian combination of Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova.
Photograph: Getty Images
