Sania-Bethanie advance to 2nd round of Madrid Open

Mirza and Bethanie overcame a fighting Hantuchova and Medina in a three-set battle to progress to the pre-quarterfinals of the WTA Madrid Open.

Madrid: Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands overcame a fighting Daniela Hantuchova and Anabel Medina Garrigues in a three-set battle to progress to the pre-quarterfinals of the WTA Madrid Open, here.

The fifth seed Indo-American pair had to work hard for a 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-4 win over the Slovakian-Spanish combo in one hour and 46 minutes in the opening round of the euro 4,033,254 clay court tournament. They next face winner of the other first round contest between Garbine Muguruza/Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor and Lucie Safarova/Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. PTI