Seoul, September 28 :

India’s Sania Mirza rallied to eliminate top-seeded Martina Hingis 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 in the second round of the Korea Open.

Mirza overcame a shaky start to drill precision strokes down the line and tire Hingis out with powerful ground strokes and crosscourt winners. Former world No 1 Hingis was chasing her third season title and second in a row after claiming the Sunfeast Open at India on Sunday.

Hingis beat Mirza in the Sunfeast semi-finals en route to the title. “We’ve played two other times. Third time lucky,” said Mirza after the match. “This is the fittest I’ve ever been, best I’ve felt.” Hingis and Mirza traded breaks for six straight games going into the second set and had less than a handful of aces between them.

“She played very well today, much better than last week. I gave her too many chances,” said Hingis. “Her forehand is really amazing.” Mirza faces Virginia Ruano Pascual in the quarter-finals after the Spaniard cruised past Indonesia’s Angelique Widjaja 6-4, 6-3.

Third-seeded Marion Bartoli of France beat countrywoman Severine Bremond 7-6 (1), 6-1 and Japan’s Ai Sugiyama beat Russia’s Anastassia Rodionova 6-3, 6-1 to book their quarter-finals berths. Sugiyama next faces Argentina’s Paola Suarez, who dominated Catalina Castano of Colombia 6-4, 6-3, while Bartoli faces Japan’s Akiko Morigami.