Miami (Florida), Mar 27: Top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci defeated Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1, 6-4 to enter the women's doubles semifinals at the Sony Open tennis event here.
The Italian pair shut the door on the Indo-American combine in more than an hour, winning the final four games of the contest played Tuesday.
Having a 21-3 record in 2013, Errani and Vinci are two victories away from their 17th WTA title as a duo and 20th as individuals. They are also both still alive in singles and will play quarterfinal matches Wednesday, reported the WTA website.
Errani-Vinci next face first-time pairing of Lisa Raymond and Laura Robson, who continued their impressive showing in the tournament with a quarterfinal triumph.
It appeared the 39-year-old Raymond and 19-year-old Robson would have their hands full with Russia's No. 4 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. The Russians, who won their biggest WTA title earlier this month at Indian Wells, came into the clash having won 20 of their last 21 matches. However, from 3-3 in the first set, Raymond and Robson won three straight games and from 3-5 down in the second set won four straight games for a 6-3, 7-5 win.
"With this format, when you get to a super tie-break, anything can happen," Raymond said. "For us, it was great to break back in the second set and serve it out to get it done in two.
"Laura brings so much energy to the court. It's fun to play with somebody who could be my daughter. This is almost a new world to her. She has such a great future ahead of her. Maybe I can teach her a little bit about doubles with my experience. It's fun practicing with her and playing matches."
Raymond certainly does bring experience to the table, as the former doubles No.1 has 79 WTA doubles titles to her name, including three in Miami.
"It's very different playing with a doubles specialist than with another singles player," Robson said. "In the past 12 months, I've teamed up with five or six different people, because I can't get into anything other than the Slams.
"I think Lisa and I are getting along really well on court. Lisa has the experience and wise words. It's been really fun. I think we're going to keep getting better and better."
