Sania Mirza beat Kristiana Brandi of Puerto Rico 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 in the second round of the USD 170,000 WTA Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open tennis in Cincinnati on Thursday.
She now joins No.1 seed Patty Schnyder and No.4 seed Daniela Hantuchova in the final eight.
She will play Japan's Akiko Morigami in the quarter-finals of the event. Morigami shocked second seed Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday.
Sania won the recent encounter with the Japanese girl 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 in the first round at Wimbledon.
The Indian has picked up 53 total points so far, with 23 bonus points, raising her point total from 517 to about 570 and would move up a few spots, inside the top-65.
Sania, partnering Ukrainian Yuliana Fedak, also won her doubles quarterfinal on Thursday, beating Angela Haynes and Bethanie Mattek (USA) easily, 6-3 6-2, to reach the semifinal, where they will face the top seeds Kveta Pleschke and Maria Elena Salerni.
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