A gritty Sania Mirza battled from a set down to knock out World No 18 Shahar Peer of Israel and stormed into the fourth round of the Pacific Life Open here.

Sania, seeded 21st in the $2.1 million tournament, dropped the first set in a tie-breaker but fought back to snatch a 6-7 (7-9), 7-5, 6-3 win to maintain her dominance and an all-win record over Shahar. Sania has now won all four of their clashes.

“We always play tough matches. I was a bit irritated with myself, because I was fighting but was not able to finish it,” said Sania, ranked 32nd in the world.

Sania said: “This win is a good achievement to be playing and beating these top players because I’m dealing with a lot of things off the court.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, playing with different partners, also advanced in the men’s doubles event. Eighth seeds Paes and Paul Hanley (Australia) beat Argentines David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas 7-5, 2-6, 10-5 to reach the quarterfinals. Sixth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas beat Christopher Kas of Germany and Rogier Wassen of the Netherlands 6-3, 7-6 in the first round.

Sania will now meet fifth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia in the pre-quarterfinals.

Roddick advances
In other matches, big-serving Andy Roddick crashed out from the men’s singles, while second-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced after a battling 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win over Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova.

American Roddick, the sixth seed, was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Germany’s Tommy Haas in a second-round match after Kuznetsova came back from an error-prone second set to seal victory in one hour, 48 minutes.

Federer, fully recovered from a bout of mononucleosis (glandular fever), crushed Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-2 and Maria Sharapova maintained her perfect start to the year by sweeping past Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 7-5, 6-3. Slovakian Hantuchova, a double champion at Indian Wells, breezed through against China’s Zheng Jie 6-4, 6-2 in a late match.

There were two upsets in the women’s event, American Ashley Harkleroad beating eighth-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia 7-5, 6-2 and India’s Sania Mirza scraping past ninth seed Shahar Peer of Israel 6-7, 7-5, 6-3.
In the men’s draw, Haas swept aside 2003 US Open champion Roddick, a winner of two ATP titles this year, in 85 minutes on the Stadium Court.

The 29-year-old will next meet 30th-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who beat Victor Hanescu of Romania 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

In other men’s matches, fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko defeated American wildcard American John Isner 6-2, 7-6 and 12th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile was upset 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 by Croatian wildcard Mario Ancic.