Sania-Hesh move into semifinal

Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open mixed doubles event by beating Liezel Huber of USA and Colin Fleming of Great Britain in straight sets 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Leander Paes had a productive day at the Australian Open as he made it to the semifinals of the men's doubles pairing Radek Stepanek and then entered the mixed doubles quarterfinals with Elena Vesnina on Wednesday.

Sania-Mirza-R-celebrates-with-compatriot-Mahesh-Bhupathi-during-their-mixed-doubles-match-against-Liezel-Huber-of-the-US-and-Colin-Fleming-of-Britain-during-the-Australian-Open-tennis-tournament-in-Melbourne-AFP-Photo-William-West

Sania Mirza, meanwhile, had a mixed day as she reached the semifinals of the mixed doubles event with Mahesh Bhupathi, but she missed out when she lost the women's doubles semifinal along with Vesnina.

The unseeded Indo-Czech pair of Paes and Stepanek registered a straight-set victory over 10th seeded pair of Eric Butorac of USA and Brazil's Bruno Soares 6-4 7-6 in a battle that lasted an hour and 39 minutes.

Paes and Stepanek looked more comfortable than their fancied opponents in the opening set as they held their serve with ease and managed to convert the only break point they got.

The US-Brazilian duo of Butorac and Soares though came up with a better show in the second set, putting a lot of pressure on their opponents' serve.

They will next take on second seeds Belarus' Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor of Canada for a place in the final.

Paes, then, along with Vesnina downed unseeded Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei and Marcin Matkowski of Poland in straight sets 6-3 7-5.

Meanwhile the sixth seeded Indian pair of Sania and Bhupathi got the better of Liezel Huber of USA and Colin Fleming of United Kingdom in straight sets 7-6 (7-5) 6-2.