Sania-Monica go down in quarterfinals at Cincinnati

CINCINNATI - India’s Sania Mirza and Monica Niculescu of Romania went down in the doubles quarterfinals of the $2,000,000 Western and Southern Financial Group Women’s Open tennis.

Sania and Niculescu lost 2-6, 5-7 to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Maria Kirikenko of Russia here Friday. The Indo-Romanian pair had stunned Wimbledon champions Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in the second round.

Azarenka and Kirilenko now face second seeds Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Flavia Pennetta of Italy in the semifinals.