MIAMI, FL, USA – No.5 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka stayed cool in the hot and heavy conditions of the Miami Open, needing only 66 minutes to dish out ice cold revenge on Qatar Total Open finalists Sara Errani and Carla Suárez Navarro, 6-4, 6-3.
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The 2012 Olympic Silver medalists and two-time Grand Slam champions had a bright start to 2016 with a run to the finals of the Australian Open and a semifinal finish in St. Petersburg, but fell to Errani in each of their last two events – first with Suárez Navarro and again last week with Oksana Kalashnikova.
“We lost to these girls in Doha, and lost to Errani last week in Indian Wells, so we were very motivated ot get this first win this year against her,” Hlavackova said after the match. “We played very well. They are a very solid and very good team and also played very well today, so it was a good match an we’re very happy to be through.”
Through difficult conditions, Hlavackova and Hradecka not only had to deal with extreme heat, but also a strong breeze that kept things interesting throughout.
“It was so humid, and a bit windy,” Hradecka said.
“Very windy,” Hlavackova added.
“I think we handled the conditions very well,” Hradecka continued. “We played aggressively. With the wind, we played unbelievably well. but even against the wind, we still had the power.”
Up next for the “Silent Hs,” who reunited at the end of 2014 and saw their first full season back together rewarded with a run to the semifinals of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global last fall, are two formidble teams in the recently reunited No.3 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova and Russians Elena Vesnina and Daria Kasatkina, who ended Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza’s 41-match winning streak in Doha.
“We’re definitely looking forward to playing one of these teams,” Hlavackova said. “We’re going to watch tomorrow; it’s actually good they play tomorrow so we can
We stick together as a team. We fight for every point. We’re pretty aggressive and have good communication. So far, it’s been working for us.
It’s easy to talk about things on and off the court and we mesh well on the court; I think we combine well together really well. Alla has good strength and I’m trying to be crafty and move around at the net. I think we pair well together and anything we feel like we need to work on, it’s easy for us to talk to each other about it and go out and do it.
It’s hot and humid, but we’re Miami; that’s nothing we didn’t expect. Drink a lot of water, hydrate, put on a lot of sunblock, which I didn’t do today, so I will pay for it tomorrow!
scout a little, because we haven’t seen Kasatkina play. We’re very much looking forward because we feel very well here on the court, since we have two wins!”
Earlier in the day, Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva – the only other team to defeat Hingis and Mirza since last summer last week at the BNP Paribas Open – reached their third straight quarterfinal in their third outing as a team with a 6-0, 7-6(1) win over Anastasia Rodionova and Galina Voskoboeva, who is only playing her second WTA tournament since a pair of foot injuries sidelined her two years ago.
“We stick together as a team,” Kudryavtseva said after the match. “We fight for every point. We’re pretty aggressive and have good communication. So far, it’s been working for us.”
“It’s easy to talk about things on and off the court and we mesh well on the court,” King added. “I think we combine well together really well. Alla has good strength and I’m trying to be crafty and move around at the net. I think we pair well together and anything we feel like we need to work on, it’s easy for us to talk to each other about it and go out and do it.”
First out on Court 7, the Australian Open quarterfinalists followed up on their dismissal of nemeses Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova – who ended each of their runs in Melbourne and Indian Wells – with a 75-minute win that came as a welcome relief from the already-tough conditions.
“It’s hot and humid, but we’re Miami; that’s nothing we didn’t expect,” Kudryavtseva said. “Drink a lot of water, hydrate, put on a lot of sunblock, which I didn’t do today, so I will pay for it tomorrow!”
Up next for King and Kudryavtseva could be a rematch of their Indian Wells encounter with Hingis and Mirza, who have only won two matches since seeing their streak end in Doha.
No.8 seeds Xu Yi-Fan and Zheng Saisai also reached the quarterfinals on Sunday, with a 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 win over Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja, while Ekaterina Makarova and Barbora Strycova recovered from a set down to defeat former No.1s Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai, 5-7, 6-2, 10-6.
