Australian Open: Sania Mirza, Rajeev Ram advance to third round mixed doubles quarter-finals

India's Sania Mirza and her American partner Rajeev Ram advanced to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Sunday after beating Ellen Perez and Matwe Middelkoop in the second round of the mixed doubles event.

The pair will now face the winner of the all-Australian clash between Sam Stosur and Matthew Ebden and Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler in the quarterfinals.

Sania and Ram put up a commanding show and wrapped up the match in an hour and 27 minutes.The score at the end of it read 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 in favour of the Indo-American pair. Earlier, Mirza and Ram had defeated Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic and Nikola Cacic in the



opening round.

Sania, who lost her women's doubles opening match along with her partner Nadiia Kichenok earlier this week, confirmed that she will not continue playing on the tour beyond 2022. The 6-time Grand Slam champion said her body is wearing down and she is looking to give more time to her young family.

"There's a bunch of reasons for it. I do feel my recovery is taking longer and considering my son is three years old, I do feel I am putting him at risk by travelling so much with him. Unfortunately the pandemic is making us take certain decision for the well-being of ourself and family," she said at the post-match press conference.