Santina Sails Into Third Round
LONDON, Great Britain – Defending champions Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza eased into the third round of Wimbledon with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Japanese pair Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato.
After a tense two-set win in their much-anticipated first round on Saturday, Hingis and Mirza were far more efficient on People’s Sunday, needing just 52 minutes to advance past Hozumi and Kato, who were broken a combined five times out on the No.3 Court.
The first players to qualify in singles or doubles for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global and winners at the All England Club one year ago, the co-World No.1s next face the unseeded duo of Christina McHale and Jelena Ostapenko. Fresh off her near win over top seed Serena Williams in singles, she and Ostapenko sealed the deal against No.14 seeds Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva – who upset Hingis and Mirza a few months ago at the BNP Paribas Open – 6-1, 6-4.
On the other half of the draw, No.2 seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic recovered from a disatrous start to dismiss Zhang Shuai and Peng Shuai, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 on No.14 Court.
The French pair are riding a eight-match winning streak at major tournaments, having just captured their maden Grand Slam in women’s doubles at Roland Garros, but survived a titanic tussle agains the Chinese veterans, who managed to engineer 11 break points against Garcia and Mladenovic, but only converted four in the one hour and 43 minute epic.
Up next for the pair are either No.14 seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja or Gabriela Dabrowski and María José Martínez Sánchez, who have yet to play their second round match.
Of the Top 4 seeds in action, only sisters Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching failed to advance on Sunday, as the No.3 seeds suffered an unexpected loss to Serbs Jelena Jankovic and Aleksandra Krunic. Set to play doubles together at the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Jankovic and Krunic’s preparation got a big boost when they were able to survive the Chans, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Standing between them and a spot in the quarterfinals are Anna-Lena Groenefeld and former No.1 Kveta Peschke, who has recently returned to the game after over a year away.
Among the last to finish were No.4 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, who each won their third rounds in singles earlier in the day. Despite a second set hiccup, Makarova and Vesnina managed to dispatch British wildcards Anna Rae and Jocelyn Smith, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. Due to the inclement weather and singles obligations, the Russians were playing just the first round of doubles, and will need to get past Annika Beck and Yanina Wickmayer in order to match Santina and the French.
