US Open 2017: Sania Mirza-Shuai Peng defeat Babos-Hlavackova pair in hard fought quarterfinals to reach semis

India's Sania Mirza and her Chinese partner Shuai Peng marched into the semifinals of the women's doubles after edging past Timea Babos and Andrea Hlavackova in a hard fought quarterfinal match at the US Open on Friday.

The Indian doubles specialist reached her first Grand Slam semi-final of the 2017 season with Shuai Peng. The fourth seeded Indo-Chinese pair had to overcome a spirited challenge from the fifth seed Hungarian-Czech combo 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the quarter-final which lasted one hour and 56 minutes.

It is season's best performance for Sania at the Slams as she lost in the third rounds of the Australian Open and the Wimbledon while at the French Open she had made a first round exit.

Sania and Peng now face second seeds Martina Hingis and Yung-Jan Chan, the pair which had defeated the Indian and her Belgian partner Kirsten Flipkens at the Wimbledon.