Sania Mirza maintained her sparkling form to shock world No 19 Tatiana Golovin of France 6-4, 6-1 and reach the quarterfinals of the USD 600,000 Bank of West Classic women’s tennis tournament here on Thursday.
Sania tore apart Golovin, completely dictating play with her huge forehand. The 20-year-old served efficiently, ate up the Frenchwoman's second serves and won the match when she blitzed a forehand winner crosscourt.
The 20-year-old Indian, for whom the US hard courts have become a happy hunting ground, was ecstatic about her first win against Golovin who had a 2-0 head to head record going into the match.
“Beating a top-20 player is always good, especially beating someone you have never beaten before,” the Hyderabad girl said after the match. “It is definitely one of my top wins. She is in the top 20 and playing well this year. She said to me, ‘can you hit it any harder?'” the world number 35 added with a laugh.
"She's one of my closest friends on tour and it's never easy to play a friend.  I wanted to dictate as I have had trouble with her in the past because she retrieves so well. But I made sure I was aggressive as soon as I got on court."
Sania next faces last year’s finalist, Patty Schnyder of Switzerland. The fourth seed downed Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Sania’s partner in doubles, Shahar Peer of Israel, went down to Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-4, 5-7, 2-6. Top seed Anna Chakvetadze of China, Sania’s conquerer and eventual champion at Cincinnati, defeated Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-4, 6-1 in the second round.
Blake in last eight
James Blake reached his third quarterfinal in his last four events with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Ricardo Mello at the Indianapolis tennis championships, adds AFP from Indianapolis.
Blake now plays American Sam Querrey, who toppled Croatian Ivo Karlovic 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (8/6). Dmitry Tursunov also entered the quarters beating fellow Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.
Ferrer through
Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer overcame Argentina's Jose Acasuso 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 on Thursday to reach the Croatia Open quarterfinals, adds Reuters from Umag, Croatia. Carlos Moya beat Spaniard Pere Riba 6-0, 6-3. Italy's Filippo Volandri overcame Mischa Zverev of Germany 7-6, 7-5 to set up a quarterfinal with Andrei Pavel of Romania.
Chela upset
Unseeded Argentine Sergio Roitman upset compatriot and fourth seed Juan Ignacio Chela 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to earn a place in the quarterfinals of the Austrian Open, adds Reuters.
Top seed Robredo, the world number seven, scored a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 win over Russian 14th seed Igor Andreev. Defending champion and sixth seed Agustin Calleri beat Diego Hartfield 7-5, 6-2.