MINSK, 25 January (BelTA) - 14th seeds Max Mirnyi and his new partner Treat Huey of the Philippines have reached the quarterfinal of the 2016 Australian Open in Australia, BelTA informs.
In the men's doubles round three Max Mirnyi and Treat Huey beat the Indian-Romanian tandem of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea (4th seeds) 6-4, 6-3. The Belarusian- Philippine duet will next face Canada's Daniel Nestor and Czech Radek Stepanek. Max Mirnyi reached the Australian Open final in 2007. Then he and Swedish Jonas Bjorkman lost to Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States 5-7, 5-7.
In the women's singles defending champion and top seed Serena Williams will take on Russia's 5th seed Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinal after crushing Russia's Margarita Gasparyan (World No.58) 6-2 6-1. Maria Sharapova reached the quarters as she battled to a 7-5 7-5 win over Swiss Belinda Bencic (World No.13).
Belarus number one Victoria Azarenka, ranked 16th in the WTA rankings, advanced into the quarterfinal defeating Czech 48th seed Barbora Strycova 6-2, 6-4. Victoria Azarenka will next face German 6th seed Angelique Kerber. The Belarusian has beaten Kerber in their six previous encounters. Victoria Azarenka is a two-time champion of the Australian Open (2012, 2013).
The $32 million Australian Open 2016 will finish on 31 January.
