Building on her improved doubles performance, Sania Mirza [ Images ] marched into the pre-quarterfinal of the women's doubles with Spanish partner Anabel Medina Garrigues at the Australian Open [ Images ] on Friday.

The tenth seeds beat Russia's [ Images ] Ekaterina Bychkova and Martina Muller of Germany [ Images ] 6-3, 6-4 in the second round in Melbourne [ Images ].

Sania-Anabel will face sixth seeds Daniela Hantuchova [ Images ] and Ai Sugiyama [ Images ] next.

Sania, who went down 3-6, 2-6 to Japan's [ Images ] Aiko Nakamura in the singles second round, has teamed up with Frenchman Fabrice Santoro [ Images ] in the mixed doubles.