Melbourne, Jan 26 (IANS) Top seeds Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig shook off the challenge of Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5, 6-2 in mixed doubles in 1 hour and eight minutes.
The Indo-Croatian pair claimed the first set, resisting some stiff contest, in 38 minutes, serving 3 aces, winning 78% of their 1st serve points and 50% of their second serve points and winning a total of 35 points to seal the set 7-5.
In the second set, however, they were far more at ease, breaking their opponents twice in six attempts and not getting broken once, needing only 30 minutes to seize it.Sania-Dodig hit fewer winners (23 to 27) but committed lesser unforced errors (16 to 20) to eventually win 65 of the total 115 points played to advance.
Through the course of the match, the Mirza/ Dodig broke the serve of the Shvedova/ Qureshi pair four times, and helped take home the match. The Indo-Croatian pair are top-seeded and will face off against the duo of Leander Paes and Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals. The Paes-Hingis duo are unseeded despite being defending champions, which is why they are facing the Mirza-Dodig pair in the quarter-finals itself.
