MUMBAI: Ten Sports has grabbed the opportunity being offered by new tennis kid on the block Sania Mirza's stirring performances in the ongoing Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open. The Dubai-based Ten Sports has secured exclusive telecast rights for the remainder of the event.

Thursday's telecast will include live coverage of Mirza’s quarter-final match, as well as a recorded replay of her brilliant win over the tournament fourth seed and World Number 7, US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
 

Taj Television Limited (owners of Ten Sports) CEO Chris McDonald was quoted in a company release as saying, "We take great pride in providing relevant and entertaining sports content for the Indian sub-continent, and nothing gets bigger for the fans here than Sania Mirza’s wonderful quest in Dubai at the moment. Our viewers wanted to see her in action, and we are happy to serve them."

Mirza is scheduled to play Thursday's quarterfinal match against Jelena Jankovic of Serbia-Montenegro, who is ranked 28th in the world.

The live quarterfinal matches will be played in two sessions – evening 4 pm to 6 pm, followed by the night session from 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm.

The two semi-final matches are scheduled for Saturday, 5 March and the final is slated for Sunday, 6 March.

The 18-year-old sensation from Hyderabad upset world No 37 Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-7, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round, and despite a painful twisted ankle, got the better of a shell-shocked Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the quarter-finals of the $ 1 million WTA event. She recently created history by becoming the first Indian to win a WTA event at her hometown Hyderabad last month.