Sania-Nuria in China Open semifinals
Sania Mirza and her partner Nuria Llagostera Vives progressed to the China Open semifinals after coming from behind to pip Julia Goerges and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, on Thursday.
Sania Mirza and her partner Nuria Llagostera Vives progressed to the China Open semifinals after coming from behind to pip Julia Goerges and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, on Thursday.
The fifth seed Indo-Spanish pair overcame the fighting German-Czech pair 4-6, 6-4, 16-14 in one hour and 34 minutes.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna reached the quarterfinals after scoring a 6-3, 6-0 win over Chinese wildcard pair of Mao-Xin Gong and Zhang Ze.
Meanwhile, Zhang Ze celebrated the biggest win of his career, handing fifth seed Richard Gasquet of France a shock 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 second-round defeat. Top two seeds Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova eased into the last eight with straight-set victories.
Belarus’ World No 1 Azarenka defeated Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-3, 6-3, while Sharapova cruised past Polona Hercog 6-0, 6-2.
Paes advances
TOKYO: The top-seeded pair of Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek had to work hard to down unseeded rivals Filip Polasek and Julian Knowle in the opening round of the ATP Japan Open. The Indo-Czech pair defeated the Slovakian-Austrian pair 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 17 minutes. Paes and Stepanek will next take on British brothers Andy and Jamie Murray.
Tomas Berdych comfortably beat Colombia’s Alejandro Falla 6-3, 7-5 to reach the singles quarterfinals. Third seed Janko Tipsarevic also progressed with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli.
The Serb faces sixth seed Milos Raonic next after Tipsarevic’s compatriot Viktor Troicki retired against the Canadian because of a calf injury at 3-0 down in the first set. Raonic had warmed up for the match with a rickshaw ride around Tokyo’s sacred Asakusa district where he also spent time looking at a collection of samurai swords.
Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus battled past fourth-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco, last year’s Kuala Lumpur winner, 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.
London Olympic gold medallist Andy Murray takes on Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarterfinals on Friday.