Sania Mirza continued with her dream form to sweep past eighth seed Russian Dinara Safina 6-1 6-2 to set up an exciting quarterfinal clash with world number two and defending champion Maria Sharapova at the $1.3 million Acura Classic Women's tennis tournament in San Diego.
The Indian, who has won 10 of her last 12 matches, would take on top seed Sharapova after the Russian outplayed French Tatiana Golovin 6-0 6-3 in her third-round match at the WTA Tier I hard court event on Thursday.
Sania and Sharapova have clashed only once earlier when the Russian demolished the Indian 6-2 6-1 in the pre-quarterfinals of the 2005 US Open Grand Slam.
The unseeded Indian, who was playing Safina for the first time, outpaced her on the baseline and struck powerful strokes to take a 5-0 lead in the first set.
Safina, younger sister of the mercurial Marat Safin, threw her racquet in frustration after sending a forehand wide to drop serve for the third time in the set.
Safina managed to get a break in the sixth game when Sania double faulted on break point but that ended up being the only game the Russian won in the opening set.
{{/usCountry}}Safina managed to get a break in the sixth game when Sania double faulted on break point but that ended up being the only game the Russian won in the opening set.
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