Sania-Ram pair cruises into mixed doubles quarterfinals at Australian Open
Melbourne(PTI): India's Sania Mirza and her American partner Rajeev Ram advanced to the mixed doubles quarterfinals of the Australian Open with a straight set win over Ellen Perez and Matwe Middelkoop here on Sunday.
The unseeded Indo-American duo took one hour 27 minutes to dispatch Australian Perez and Dutch Middelkoop 7-6 (8/6),6-4 in the second round clash on Court 3.
Mirza and Ram will now face the winners of another second round, all Australian tie between Sam Stosur and Matthew Ebden and Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler, in the quarterfinals.
Mirza and Ram had got the better of Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic and Nikola Cacic in the first round.
Earlier this week, the six-time Grand Slam winner Mirza had been knocked out in the first round of the women's doubles event.
Mirza, who will retire after the 2022 season, is the only Indian remaining in fray in the season's first Grand Slam after Rohan Bopanna and his Croatian partner Darija Jurak Schreiber made a first-round exit from the mixed doubles event on Saturday.
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Security forces destroy 23 illegal bunkers, seize 18 IEDs in Manipur
Imphal (PTI): Security forces have destroyed 23 bunkers illegally constructed in Manipur's Ukhrul and seized 18 IEDs in Tengnoupal district in separate operations, a police statement said on Saturday.
The bunkers were destroyed on Thursday in the hill villages of Mongkot Chepu, Shongphel, Mullam, Sirarakhong and Ringue in Litan police station area, it said.
A 12-bore pump action gun, 17 cartridges of different calibres and 111 empty cases of fired bullets were also seized.
At least seven people have been shot dead in different firing incidents and more than 30 houses have been torched since violence broke out between Tangkhul Naga and Kuki communities in Ukhrul district in February this year.
Meanwhile, in a separate operation on Wednesday, security forces seized a cache of arms and explosives in T Bongmol village in Moreh police station area in Tengnoupal district.
Two single-barrel rifles, four 9mm pistols with magazines and 18 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were seized. The explosives were destroyed on the spot, it added.
