Sania and her partner Garcia sail into Dubai Open doubles pre-quarterfinals

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her partner Caroline Garcia registered a hard-fought win over Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva and Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik to vance to women's doubles pre-quarterfinals at Dubai Open here on Tuesday. Indo-French pair beat ir Russian opponents 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 in first round match. Sania-Garcia combine will w meet fifth seeded duo of Saisai Zheng of China and Barbora Krejcikova of Czech Republic in round of 16. 

33-year-old Sania was returning to action at Dubai Open after recovering from a calf injury which h cut short her campaign at Australian Open in January.

Sania's first Grand Slam outing after a two-year maternity leave h ended with an early exit when Indian ace retired mid-way during her doubles first-round match because of a right calf injury.