IANS

Birmingham, Jun 13: Sania Mirza dispatched Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-1, 7-6 (4) to reach the semifinals of the Aegon Classic tennis tournament here Friday.

Sania, who has fallen to 98th in the world rankings from a career-best 27 two years ago due to a wrist injury, beat the 16th seed in an hour and 17 minutes. The unseeded Indian thus made it to only her second semifinals in two years, in the run-up to Wimbledon starting June 22.

Sania ran through the first set with two break of serves before Czink came back in the second set with an early break for a 3-1 lead.

Sania broke her twice to go ahead 5-4, before Czink saved a match point to lead 6-5.

In the tiebreaker, Sania held her nerve to close out the match.

"I played some tough matches here and I am glad to have come through," Sania said after the match.

"The wrist is healed which is a big positive for me."

Sania will face the winner of the quarter-final match between Urszula Radwanska of Poland and Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.