Australian Open: Indian hopes on Sania Mirza after Leander Paes crashes out
Sania Mirza and Horia Tecau stormed into the mixed doubles semis after beating Julia Georges and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 6-3, 6-4 while Leander Paes' stay in the tournament came to an end after he and Daniel Hantuchova lost 3-6, 3-6 to Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic.
Sania Mirza and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau cruised into the mixed doubles semi-finals at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday while Leander Paes and Slovakia's Daniel Hantuchova lost their quarter-final match to the Canadian-French combine of Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic. (Federer meets Nadal in men's single semi-final)
Sania-Tecau beat Juila Goerges of Germany and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan 6-3, 6-4 in a little over an hour. They next meet Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden, who upset second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Katarina Srebotnik Wednesday. (Li Na to fight Dominika Cibulkova for women's singles title)
Sania has won the mixed doubles title once at Melbourne, achieving the feat with fellow Indian Mahesh Bhupathi in 2009. The duo finished runners-up in 2008.
Later Thursday, Paes-Hantuchova lost 3-6, 3-6 to Nestor-Mladenovic in 62 minutes. (In Pics: Federer sets up semi-final clash against Nadal)
With the loss, Paes' challenge in the tournament came to an end. He and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek lost in the men's doubles quarter-finals.