WTA Dubai Championships: Zheng Saisai storms into doubles quarterfinal
CGTN
Zheng Saisai of China plays during the Australian Open in Melbourne, January 22, 2020. /VCG

Zheng Saisai of China plays during the Australian Open in Melbourne, January 22, 2020. /VCG

The pairing of China's Zheng Saisai and Barbora Krejcikova of Czech Republic defeated French-Indian duo Caroline Garcia and Sania Mirza 6-4, 6-2 in the women's doubles round of 16 during the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday.

The ongoing Women's Tennis Association (WTA) event is being played between February 17 and 29 on outdoor hard courts in Dubai.

Next, Zheng and Krejcikova will face Xu Yifan and Nicole Melichar in the quarterfinals, after the Chinese-American pair advanced on Wednesday as well.

However, Peng Shuai and Han Xinyun crashed in the second round as they ended with a straight 6-2 loss to Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei and Czech Barbora Strycova.

Even though American Sofia Kenin exited in the singles match on Tuesday, the Australian Open champion found her way with her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the doubles on Wednesday, beating Dutch-Czech pair Demi Schuurs and Kveta Pescheke 0-6, 6-0, 10-1.

Ons Jabeur (front) of Tunisia plays a shot against Simona Halep of Romania during their Dubai Tennis Championships women's singles match in Dubai, UAE, February 19, 2020. /VCG

Ons Jabeur (front) of Tunisia plays a shot against Simona Halep of Romania during their Dubai Tennis Championships women's singles match in Dubai, UAE, February 19, 2020. /VCG

In women's singles, top seed Simona Halep of Romania survived an early scare and saved a match point to beat Tunisia's Ons Jabeur 1-6 6-2 7-6(7) in the last 16.

Halep, playing her first match since a semifinal exit at the Australian Open, was rusty in the opening set as Jabeur got off to a flier and the Romanian was visibly frustrated.

However, the world No. 2 bounced back to take the opening three games of the second set and rediscovered her touch from the baseline with powerful ground strokes that forced Jabeur into errors.

Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic plays a forehand against Kristina Mladenovic (not pictured) of France during their singles match in Dubai, UAE, February 19, 2020. /VCG

Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic plays a forehand against Kristina Mladenovic (not pictured) of France during their singles match in Dubai, UAE, February 19, 2020. /VCG

Meanwhile, world No. 3 Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic and Garbine Muguruza of Spain re-established order among seeds as both reached the quarterfinals.

Pliskova strolled to a 6-1, 6-2 defeat of French qualifier Kristina Mladenovic in barely an hour, before ninth seed Muguruza took almost two-and-a-half hours to get past Russian Veronika Kudermetova 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

(With input from agencies)