Sania and her partner Garcia sail into Dubai Open doubles pre-quarterfinals

The Sania-Garcia combine will now meet the fifth seeded duo of Saisai Zheng of China and Barbora Krejcikova of Czech Republic in the round of 16.

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her partner Caroline Garcia registered a hard-fought win over Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva and Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik to advance to the women’s doubles pre-quarterfinals at the Dubai Open here on Tuesday.

Sania Mirza plays a forehand shot during her first round doubles match on day four of the 2020 Hobart International at the Domain Tennis Centre (Getty Images)

The Indo-French pair beat their Russian opponents 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 in the first round match.

The Sania-Garcia combine will now meet the fifth seeded duo of Saisai Zheng of China and Barbora Krejcikova of Czech Republic in the round of 16.

The 33-year-old Sania was returning to action at the Dubai Open after recovering from a calf injury which had cut short her campaign at the Australian Open in January.

Sania’s first Grand Slam outing after a two-year maternity leave had ended with an early exit when the Indian ace retired mid-way during her doubles first-round match because of a right calf injury.