Sania Mirza, Barbora Strycova enter semi-finals of Apia International

Sania Mirza and her new team-mate Barbora Strycova have stormed into the semi-finals of Apia International tournament in Sydney. In the quarter-finals, the top seeded Indo-Czech pair defeated the Aussie-American pair of Madison Brengle and Arina Rodionova, 6-3, 6-4.

For a place in the Final, Sania and Barbora will today take on the fourth-placed American-Kazakh team of Vania



King and Yaroslava Shvedova.

The tournament is part of the Australian Open series in preparation for the first Grand Slam of the season which begins on Monday. Over in the Auckland Open, Leander Paes and Andre Sa have entered the last-8 stage. In the pre-quarterfinals, the unseeded Indo-Brazilian team stunned the top-placed pair of Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, 7-6, 6-3. Paes and Andre will play their quarterfinal today against Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner.