Top seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova yesterday advanced to the third round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while the Chan sisters both successfully negotiated the first round of the mixed doubles at Melbourne Park.
Wimbledon champions Hsieh and Strycova looked to be cruising against Lauren Davis of the US and Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland, before the unseeded duo upped their game in the second set and forced the Taiwanese-Czech duo to battle to a 6-1, 7-5 victory in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Court 7.
Hsieh and Strycova won 67 percent of points on their second serve and hit 22 winners, and although they created 19 break points they could only convert six as they set up a third-round clash today with Darija Jurak of Croatia and Nina Stojanovic of Serbia, who rallied from a set down to defeat Australian wild-cards Maddison Inglis and Kaylah McPhee 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 on Court 3.
Photo: Reuters
In the mixed doubles on Court 22, sixth seeds Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig were made to work hard for a 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 victory by another pair of Australians, Arina Rodionova and Andrew Harris.
The Taiwanese-Croatian duo — the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champions — saved seven of 11 break points and converted five of 12, hitting 32 winners to set up a second-round clash with Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, who defeated Belgian-Austrian duo Kirsten Flipkens and Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 6-3 in 56 minutes on Court 15.
Fourth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Michael Venus of New Zealand had to battle back from a set down to edge Duan Yingying of China and Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 10-8 in 1 hour, 28 minutes.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
Chan Hao-ching and Venus survived a barrage of 10 aces and saved nine of 11 break points, converting one of the two they created to advance to face Polish pairing Iga Swiatek and Lukasz Kubot, who defeated Australian wild-cards Ellen Perez and Luke Saville 6-4, 7-5.
In the singles, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal and Wimbledon champion Simona Halep dodged an exodus of seeded players as the shocks kept rolling.
After Serena Williams and reigning champion Naomi Osaka fell by the wayside on Friday, second seed Karolina Pliskova crashed out on a day of carnage in the women’s singles.
Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, the sixth seed, won only one game against Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, the world No. 31, as she bombed 6-0, 6-1, while a resurgent Garbine Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam champion, thrashed fifth seed Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-2 as six of the top 10 seeds exited in the third round.
Tenth seed Madison Keys lost to Maria Sakkari on Friday.
“I was very concentrated and focused on what I wanted to do, it all went fast my way,” said Muguruza, who raced through the first set in just 23 minutes.
Croatian 19th seed Donna Vekic also crumbled to lower-ranked opposition when she lost 7-5, 6-3 to Swiatek, who is returning from a stress fracture in her foot.
While the women’s seeds fell, Nadal had few problems against fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta — despite staying up to watch Roger Federer’s thrilling late-night win over John Millman, which went to a fifth-set tiebreak.
“I watched it until one o’clock — it was impossible to sleep watching this match,” Nadal said.
However, he showed no signs of tiredness, racing through 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in just 1 hour, 38 minutes in what he called his “best match of the tournament so far, without a doubt.”
“I’m improving every day, so super-happy. I did well on my serve and hit good forehands down the line, which is a key shot for me,” he said.
Nadal, 33, who can equal Federer’s record 20 Grand Slam titles with victory in Melbourne, next meets Nick Kyrgios — the outspoken Australian with whom he has a running feud — after the 23rd seed defeated 16th seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (10/8) in a match that lasted 4 hours, 26 minutes.
Kyrgios labeled Nadal “super salty” last year and mimicked his serving routine during his second-round win.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev dismissed Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 to set up a round-of-16 clash with Russia’s Andrey Rublev, who remained unbeaten this year with his win over David Goffin.
Halep put away Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 6-4 to reach the round-of-16, where she faces Belgium’s Elise Mertens, who won in three sets against CiCi Bellis — ending the American’s Grand Slam return from long-term injury.
Halep, the reigning Wimbledon champion, shrugged off the departure of some of the tournament favorites, saying defeats can happen to anyone.
“It’s just a tournament and I’m sure that for you guys [media] it’s a little bit of shock when the top-10 players are losing, but it’s life and we cannot be 100 percent every day,” the Romanian said.
Angelique Kerber, the 2016 champion, beat Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 to set up a meeting with Russian 30th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who knocked out Pliskova 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/3).
“I was about 40 percent today of my game,” said Pliskova, who was at a loss to explain her lack of form. “I don’t know. I was just down.”
Austrian fifth seed Dominic Thiem came through 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 against Taylor Fritz, while Rublev beat Goffin 2-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).
Stanislas Wawrinka, the 2014 champion, progressed to the round-of-16 when John Isner retired in the second set and Gael Monfils beat Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-3.
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