Sania Mirza [Images] continued her brilliant run in Tokyo when she knocked out top seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva in the quarter-finals of the Japan [Images] Open Tennis Championships on Friday.

The 18-year-old, ranked 37th in the world, came back strongly after losing the first set to win 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.

• Images from the Japan Open

The first set was evenly matched, but Zvonareva, ranked 24th in the world, held on to win 7-5.

Thereafter, it was all Sania as she comfortably marched through the next two sets to complete victory in her first appearance at the Japan Open.

In the semi-finals, she will face France's [Images] Tatiana Golovin [Images], who beat Ai Sugiyama of Japan 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Eighth seed Sania had beaten Japan's Aiko Nakamura 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday to advance to the last eight.

In the other semi-final, second seed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic will take on fourth seed Russian Maria Kirilenko.

However, in the women's doubles, Sania was knocked out in the semi-finals. She and her Israeli partner Shahar Peer went down 6-1, 6-4 to Argentina's Gisela Dulko and Russian Maria Kirilenko.

In the men's doubles, India's Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] and partner Simon Aspelin of Sweden went down to Justin Gimelstob of the United States and Australia's Todd Perry 5-0, 5-4 in the quarter-finals.

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