Sania Mirza and her Australian teammate Alicia Molik

Sania Mirza and her Australian teammate Alicia Molik got walk over from top seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and American Meghann Shaughnessy to move into the second round of the women’s doubles event at the Istanbul Cup.

A sprain in Shaughnessy’s right ankle saw the top seeds giving a walkover to Sania and Molik.

In the second round, the Indo-Australian pair will meet Jelena Kostanic of Croatia and her Indonesian partner Angelique Widjaja, who overcame the Anastasia Myskina-Ipek Senoglu duo 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in a marathon match in the 200,000 dollar WTA Tier III event.

Sania is already out of the singles event following her second round defeat at the hands of Michaella Krajicek on Wednesday.