Sania Mirza has entered her first quarter-finals at a WTA Tour tournament after three and a half years when she beat German wildcard Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 6-4, at the Family Circle Cup here on Thursday.


Sania Mirza

It is Sania's first WTA Tour quarter-final since San Diego in August 2007. The Indian, who came through the qualifiers, now plays 11th-seeded Chinese Shua Peng, who defeated seventh seed Russian Nadia Petrova 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.

In their only meeting before Thursday, Sania was beaten by the German over three sets in Auckland in the run-up to the Australian Open in January.

Lisicki came into the match against Sania after stunning World No.12 and fourth-seeded Marion Bartoli in the pre-quarter-finals.

"We played once before, in Auckland just before the Australian Open, and I lost 7-6 in the third. So, I knew it was going to be a tough match. Obviously, Sabine was coming in after beating Bartoli, and I had a tough match also," Sania said.

Sania, who was once ranked World No. 27, said she was close to her best. "I would like to hope I did. I feel like I'm close to my best now. I was Top 30 two years ago. With my wrist injury it has been a tough couple of years and I'm just happy to be healthy again."