INDIAN WELLS, California (AFP) - Defending champion Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia booked a quarter-final berth at the Pacific Life Open here Tuesday with a 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) victory over India's Sania Mirza.

After the two traded breaks in the second and third games of the second set, Hantuchova finally earned her first break of the set in the 11th game, taking a 6-5 lead.

She couldn't serve it out, however, immediately dropping her serve to bring on the tiebreaker, which she dominated. Hantuchova, the fifth seed, raced to a 4-0 lead, then finished it off confidently with a service winner and a forehand winner.

Hantuchova, who also won this title in 2002 for her first WTA Tour title, next faces either fourth-seeded Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova of Russia or Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko.

They were slated to play later Tuesday on stadium court, after men's top seed Roger Federer took on France's Nicolas Mahut in a third-round encounter.