Sania takes Daniilidou in her stride

Sania Mirza overcame first set hiccups to get the better of Eleni Daniilidou of Greece and enter the third round of the San Diego Classic on Wednesday.

The Indian ace committed several unforced errors in the first set but sparkled in the second to beat the Greek 7-6(1), 6-3.

The Hyderabadi next faces world No 14 and eighth seed Dinara Safina of Russia, who got the better of Camille Pin of France 6-1, 6-4.

Victory over Safina in the pre-quarter-finals, could pit Sania against former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova in what will be a replay of their US Open fourth round clash in 2005.

Sania was also in sublime form in the doubles. She and Israel's Shahar Peer defeated Angelika Bachmann of Germany and the Czech Republic's Hana Smorova 6-4, 6-0 to enter the second.

There was a minor upset, with Japan's Ai Sugiyama beating 15the seed Sybille Bammer of Austria 6-2, 7-6(3) in another second round match.

Results (second round):

1-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) 6-1, 6-3; 10-Venus Williams (US) beat Virginie Razzano (France) 6-2, 6-4; Maria Kirilenko (Russia) beat 16-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 6-4, 7-6(3); 9-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6-1, 6-2; 13-Tatiana Golovin (France) beat Anne Kremer (Luxembourg) 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; 3-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 6-4, 6-4; 11-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 6-2, 6-0; 8-Dinara Safina (Russia) beat Camille Pin (France) 6-1, 6-4; 6-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1; Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat 15-Sybille Bammer (Austria) 6-2, 7-6(3); Sania Mirza (India) beat Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 7-6(1), 6-3; Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) beat 14-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-3, 6-1.