Australian Open: Sania upstages Rohan

MELBOURNE: Sania Mirza got the better of her friend and rival Rohan Bopanna as she edged past her compatriot in the mixed doubles quarterfinals at the Australian Open.
Mirza and Croatian Ivan Dodig saved four match points as they came through a tense super tiebreak to beat Bopanna and Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski 6-4, 3-6, 12-10 and replicate their last-four appearance at Melbourne Park last year.Mirza and Dodig await the winners of the clash between Martina Hin gis-Leander Paes and Aussies Samantha Stosur-Sam Groth.
The Hyderabadi downplayed the potential match-up against Paes with whom she had won a mixed doubles bronze at the Asian Games in 2002. The relationship between the two has been strained in recent years. “Not at all.It's like any other match,“ the 30-yearold said. “Even today , it was a difficult match against Rohan. He is one of my best friends. Twenty minutes before the match we were having coffee together. That is the way it works. When you are on court, you put everything aside and focus on tennis.“
Bopanna and Dabrowski were up 7-4 in the tiebreak and then 9-6. But Dodig ­ a former world No. 29 in singles who won the French Open doubles crown with Marcelo Melo in 2015 ­ controlled the points brilliantly, forcing Dabrowski and Bopanna to hurry their shots and make errors.
Zeel enters quarters but Banthia is out
Zeel Desai advanced to the quarterfinals in girls' singles after her opponent, Serbian fifth seed Olga Danilovic, retired injured while leading 5-3 in the first set.Danilovic was serving for the set at 15-30 in the ninth game when she fell down and hurt her hamstring.
In the boys' doubles, Siddhanth Banthia and Turkey's Kaya Gore went down to Finn Reynolds of New Zealand and Duarte Vale of Portugal 2-6, 5-7, ending the Indian lad's campaign at the Open.