Doha: Sania Mirza kept herself on course for an Asian Games individual medal by storming into the quarter-finals of the women's singles at the Al Khalifa International Stadium at Doha on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Indian got the better of South Korea's Yoo Mi 6-1, 6-4 in the one-sided encounter that lasted just 34 minutes.
Sania, ranked 67th in the world, has been in good touch since landing in Doha.
The Hyderabad girl, seeded fourth in the singles, broke her Korean opponent in the third, fifth and seventh games to wrap up the first set in 18 minutes.
She was a little less ruthless in the second set, when she broke her rival in the second, fourth and eighth games to secure a place in the last eight stage.
Another Indian Shikha Uberoi, however, bowed out of the singles event after deciding to retire from her first round match against second seed Jie Zheng of China.
Uberoi was trailing 0-4 in the first set when she decided to pull out owing to exhaustion, having played too many matches since the silver-winning effort in the team event.
Sania said the crowd support was a major factor in her win.
"I was playing good, but she got some points and I started to feel the pressure, and I don't know why that happened," Sania said.
"I was hitting the ball well, I was playing well and the crowd was motivating me, so that's why I won the match," she said.
Sania admitted it was very tiring to play three matches in one day.
"I have to think about my singles, and it is very tiring to play more than two matches each day, and I have to play three today."
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