Sania Mirza quashed a strong challenge from local girl Tamarine Tanasugarn to enter the quarter-finals of the WTA Tier IV event in Pattaya, Thailand, on Wednesday.

The fifth-seeded Indian ace beat Tanasugarn 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 in a second round match.

Sania will next face third seed Mara Santangelo of Italy, who was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva.

Serving for the first set at 5-3, Sania committed two double faults to hand back the advantage to Tanasugarn. But the 20-year old Hyderabadi lass immediately broke back and sealed the set with a return winner on the local girl's second serve.

In the second set, Tanasugarn was the dominant player. She moved the Indian ace like puppet on strings and won the set in quick time.

But Sania battled back in the final set, going up 3-1. She dropped just five points thereafter as she won the next three games to wrap the match.

"I was nowhere near my best, but I will take the win," Sania said after the match.

"I had to counter the wind and and that was one of the resons for the inconsistency, but I'm happy to get through to the quarters."