Indians at Aus Open: Sania-Ram cruise into quarters

India's Sania Mirza and her American partner Rajeev Ram advanced to the mixed doubles quarter-finals at the Australian Open with a straight sets win over Ellen Perez and Matwe Middelkoop, in Melbourne, on Sunday.

The unseeded Indo-American duo took an hour and 27 minutes to dispatch Australia's Perez and Middelkoop of the Netherlands 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 in the second round clash on Court 3.

Mirza and Ram will now face the winners of another second round, all Australian tie between Sam Stosur and Matthew Ebden and Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler, in the quarterfinals.

Mirza and Ram got the better of Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic and Nikola Cacic in the first round.

Earlier this week, the six-time Grand Slam winner Mirza was knocked out in the first round of the women's doubles.

Mirza, who will retire after the 2022 season, is the only Indian remaining in the fray in the season's first Grand Slam after Rohan Bopanna and his Croatian partner Darija Jurak Schreiber made a first-round exit from the mixed doubles event on Saturday.