Sania Mirza [Images] and her Italian partner Francesca Schiavone scored an easy victory to enter the second round at the Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai on Monday.

Mirza and Schiavone beat wild cards Svetlana Kuznetsova and Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-4 in the first round.

They next face the winner of the first round match between top seeds Cara Black-Liezel Huber and the Chinese duo of Shuai Peng and Tiantian Sun.

Sania begins her singles campaign in the Tier-II event on Tuesday when she takes on Russian qualifier Vera Dushevina.

Photograph: Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images