Sania Mirza in action against Varvara Lepchenko in Mason, Ohio, on Wednesday

Cincinnati: Third-seed Sania Mirza led the way into the quarter finals of the $175,000 WTA Hardcourt Tournament here with a straight-set win over Varvara Lepchenko.

Sania downed her opponent on Wednesday from Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarter finals here for the third straight year (as reported in Thursday’s Late City edition).

Sania now awaits the winner of the second-round match between ninth-seeded Jill Craybas of the United States and Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

Meanwhile, top-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze also reached the last eight, defeating Romanian qualifier Anda Perianu 6-4, 6-3.

The only other seeded player in action, No. 7 Akiko Morigami of Japan also had an easy second-round match. A finalist here in 2005, Morigami dispatched German teenager Angelique Kerber 6-2, 6-2.

In other second-round action, American Lilia Osterloh topped Georgian qualifier Anna Tatishvili 7-5, 6-1, while in the first round China’s Yuan Meng defeated Australian Casey Dellacqua 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. (AFP)