Mirza-Bethanie advance to second round in Madrid

Fifth seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza advanced to the next round at the Mutua Madrid Open with a three-set win over Daniela Hantuchova and Anabel Medina Garrigues.

The Indo-American pair have been in terrific form this year, winning Premier-level titles in Brisbane and Dubai and finishing runners-up in Stuttgart.

The duo were down a break in the first set at 4-3, 5-4 and 6-5 yet broke serve each time en route to a tie-break, which they won comfortably. After dropping the second set, Mattek-Sands and Mirza rallied back and went on to win 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-4 here Monday.

"We've had a great year so far," Mattek-Sands was quoted as saying in the WTA website. "We're best friends and that helps a lot."

"We've been doing well this year," Mirza said. "What we haven't done yet is win a Grand Slam title, which is eventually our goal."

"It was tough conditions at first, with swirling winds," Mattek-Sands said. "I think all of us are trying to figure it out. We were up against a very good team, so it's a good win for us and we're happy with it."

"We were all struggling with our rhythm in the beginning," Mirza said. "It was a good win, especially against such a good team in the first round."

The only other seeds in action, No.7 seeds Zhang Shuai and Zheng Jie, went down at the hands of Kristina Mladenovic and Galina Voskoboeva, 6-4, 6-1.