Sania-Chuang in Madrid Masters semis

Sania Mirza and her partner Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei advanced to the semi-finals of the Madrid Masters after their rivals Victoria Azarenka and Elena Vesnina conceded their quarter-final match here today.

Sania and Chuang were leading 2-0 in the first set when the Russian-Belarussian duo pulled out due to an injury to Azarenka's left knee which was enough to send the unseeded Indo-Taipei pair into the last four stage of the 4,500,000 dollar event.

Sania and Chuang will now take on third seeds Lisa Raymond of the US and Kveta Peshke of Czech Republic in the next round.

The other semifinal will be played between top seeds Cara Black of Zimbabwe and American Liezel Huber and the fourth seeded Australian pair of Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs.

Sania is the lone surviving Indian in the tournament after Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi crashed out of the doubles event with their respective partners earlier in the tournament.