Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis have been the team to beat in the WTA doubles circuit, after their impressive run so far in 2015. The Indo-Swiss pair reached the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters, after defeating the Romanian pair of Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu in the second round.
Even if the pairing of Sania-Hingis were broken four times in the match, they showed their class as they put up a dominant display to win their encounter in straight sets, with the score reading 6-4, 6-1. The top seed just took 63 minutes to finish the game.
The Indo-Swiss pair will face Germany's Julia Goerges and Spain's Silvia Soler-Espinosa in the last eight of the competition on Thursday. Being top seeds, they are expected to progress through, but they are not going to take it easy, especially after their exit from the Madrid Masters last week, during the quarterfinals of the competition.
With the French Open coming up soon, Sania and Hingis are aware of the importance of the Rome Masters, as a victory here will increase their confidence ahead of the second Grand Slam of the year.
The Indian will be eager to win her first Grand Slam in women's doubles as well.
Meanwhile, in the singles category, former world number one Maria Sharapova, after turning victorious against Jarmila Gajdosova in the second round of the competition, will next face unseeded Serbian Bojana Jovanovski.
After winning the first set, the Russian was leading 3-1 in the second, when Gajdosova decided to retire from the match.
Third seed Sharapova has had plenty of success at the Rome Masters, as the Russian has won the competition twice in her career.
With a number of top players in the draw, such as Serena Williams and Simona Halep, she needs to be at the top of her game to clinch a third Rome Masters crown.
But, the Russian has to concentrate on defeating Jovanovski in her third round clash first on Thursday.
Where to Watch Live
The live coverage of Maria Sharapova- B. Jovanovski is scheduled for 2 pm local time (5:30 pm IST, 8 am ET and 1 pm BST) start and the doubles clash between the pairing of Sania Mirza/Martina Hingis and Julia Goerges/ Silvia Soler-Espinosa is scheduled for 3 pm local time (6:30 pm IST, 9 am ET and 2 pm BST) start with live coverage in the US on Tennis Channel.
Viewers in the UK can watch it live on BT Sport.
Viewers all around the world, including India, can stream it live on tennistv.
