Sania Mirza in action during her second-round match against Emma Laine in Cincinnati on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Mason (Ohio): Sania Mirza set up a tough quarter final clash with top seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland after defeating Finland’s Emma Laine 6-1, 0-6, 6-1 in the second round of the $175,000 WTA Cincinnati Open here.

The match against Laine fluctuated wildly, with the Indian breezing through the first set before suffering a slump in the second which saw her losing it to love.

But the ninth seed got her act together in the decider and raced ahead to make her first quarter final of the year.

Sania was her usual inconsistent self, firing 27 winners compared to the 12 by her opponent in the first set but inexplicably losing her way in the second.

She was at her aggressive best in the third, hitting three aces and 29 winners to take it in an hour and a half.

Schnyder beat American qualifier Abigail Spears 6-1, 6-0 in just 53 minutes to make it to the last eight.

Schnyder, who has not won a title since winning in Cincinnati a year, raced to a 3-0 lead before allowing Spears a brief moment of hope, claiming her only game at 3-1.

After that, the veteran Swiss swept through the next nine games to keep her title defence on track.

“I knew I had to work on some things after the first match, I didn’t expect such a big difference after just one day,” Schnyder told reporters.

Fourth seed Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia tamed China’s Meng Yuan 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 to reach the last eight while American Amy Frazier rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 win over eighth-seeded Argentine Gisela Dulko

Russia’s Vera Zvonareva swept past French seventh seed Tatiana Golovin 6-3, 6-0 in the day’s only first-round contest.

In doubles, India’s Shikha Uberoi and her Canadian partner Maureen Drake lost 6-0, 1-6, 3-6 to top seeds Maria Elena Camerin of Italy and Argentine Dulko.

Sania is also through to the last eight in doubles where she will pair up with Marta Domachowska of Poland to take on Varvara Lepchenko of Uzbekistan and China’s Meng Yuan for a spot in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile in Indianapolis, the fading career of former world No.1 Marat Safin reached a new low on Wednesday when he was defeated in straight sets by the 512th-ranked Wesley Whitehouse at the RCA Championships.

Safin, who has been struggling to recover from a knee injury, went down 1-6, 4-6 to the South African qualifier, who claimed only his second ATP win of the year.

“I never felt comfortable on the court,” Safin said. “He played well and I was never in the match.”

The formerly swaggering Safin dropped to 12-12 on the season, his last victory coming over Greg Rusedski in the Wimbledon first round.

“This kind of a loss hurts, I don’t really know what to do. You can only look for better times. I’m not even close to my tennis.”

Safin’s Russian compatriots Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn both advanced into the third round.Seventh seed Tursunov beat Benjamin Becker 6-3, 5-7, 2-1 as the German retired with heat exhaustion. Number 15 Kunitsyn defeated Lars Burgsmuller 7-5, 6-2.

Top seed James Blake ended a three-year sequence without a victory at the tournament by eclipsing Thailand’s Danai Udomchoke 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. (Agencies)