Rediff

Hobart, Jan 10: Sania Mirza continued to roll as she stormed into the semi-finals of the Moorilla International Open with a straight-sets victory over home favourite Alicia Molik in Hobart on Wednesday.

The 20-year old Indian thrashed Molik, her doubles partner, 6-4, 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the USD 145,000 WTA Tour event, a lead up to the Australian Open starting on Monday.

In the last four, Sania will face top seed Russian Anna Chakvetadze, who beat seventh-seed Jie Zheng of China 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Sania, however, tasted defeat in the doubles as she and Molik went down fighting 6-7 (5), 6-7 (1) to second seeds Maria Elena Camerin of Italy and Gisela Dulko of Russia in the quarter-finals.

In Sydney, the Indo-French pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Fabrice Santoro bit the dust with a 1-6, 6-7 (6) loss to Paul Hanley of Australia and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe in the quarter-finals at the USD 436,000 Medibank International on the ATP Tour.

Bhupathi's estranged partner Leander Paes enjoyed better luck though.

Paes, partnering Martin Damm of the Czech Republic, posted a convincing 2-6, 7-5, 5-10 win over Australia's Ashley Fisher and Tripp Phillips of the United States to move into the semi-finals.

The fourth seeded Indo-Czech pair started well by clinching the first set while conceding just two games. Fisher-Phillips fought back in the second set to stretch the match to third set.

However, the Doha Open finalists, prevailed in the decisive tie-breaker to emerge winners.