Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza ran their win streak to 33 matches as they secured a spot in the Australian Open quarterfinals. Hingis-Mirza beat Svetlana Kuznetsova and Roberta Vinci in straight sets on Monday.
Hingis-Mirza Make Fourth Straight Slam Quarterfinal
Top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza are headed to their fourth straight Grand Slam quarterfinal. Hingis-Mirza secured their spot in the Australian Open quarters with a 6-1, 6-3 destruction of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Roberta Vinci on Monday. The top seeds have now made the quarterfinals or better in every Grand Slam they have participated in together, dating back to last year's French Open. They won the women's doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2015. The top seeds were in exquisite form in the fourth round as they broke Kuznetsova-Vinci two times in the opening set, while saving all six of their own break points. Hingis-Mirza were all over their unseeded opponents' serves as they won 52 percent of the service points from the Russian-Italian combo.
The second set saw Kuznetsova-Vinci have some early opportunities to get back into the match. They fended off two break points on their own serve to open the set and then could not convert on a break point in the second game. Hingis-Mirza would strike in game three with a break to go up 2-1. That lasted just one game though as Kuznetsova-Vinci finally scored their first break of the match to even things at 2-2. After an exchange of service holds, the top seeds again ate into their opponents serve and tallied the decisive break in the 7th game to go up 4-3. They would close out the match with a hold and another break. The top seeds crushed 23 winners in the final set to help fuel their win.
Two of Top Five Teams Shocked
Third seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic were stunned by 13th seeds Julia Goerges and Kristina Pliskova in third round action. The 13th seeds were rock solid serving and took advantage of 28 unforced errors to win 6-1, 7-6 (5). Fifth seeded Russian duo Elina Vesnina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova were taken down by Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva in three sets. The unseeded pair scored their second straight seeded scalp after beating 11th seeds Samantha Stosur and Yaroslava Shvedova in the third round. Chinese duo Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng booked the last quarterfinal spot with an easy 6-2, 6-4 win over Su-Wei Hsieh and Oksana Kalashnikova.
Mannarino-Pouille Stun Another Seed
A day after taking down the defending champions Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini, Frenchmen Adrian Mannarino and Lucas Pouille scored another seeded upset in the third round. Mannarino-Pouille saved all four of their break points en route to a 6-3, 7-6 (6) win over 12th seeds Juan-Sebastien Cabal and Robert Farah. This is quite an accomplishment for the unseeded Frenchmen who were both ranked well over 200 in doubles prior to this tournament.
Bryan Brothers Out Again, Rojer-Tecau Move On
Third seeded Americans, Bob and Mike Bryan, were upset in round three. Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram came back from a set down to oust the brothers 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The 13th seeds hit an astounding 55 winners in the match and clubbed 13 aces. The Bryans reverted to the type of serving numbers that plagued their inconsistent 2015 season as they won just 65 percent of their first serve points and were broken three times after not being broken in the first two rounds.
Top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau are through to the quarterfinals after dismissing Andreas Seppi and Marco Cecchinato 7-6 (0), 6-3. The top seeds are seeking back-to-back semifinal trips as they will battle Mannarino-Pouille in the quarters. Seventh seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares continued their under-the-radar run in Melbourne. They worked past 11th seeds Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt 6-3, 6-4. They saved both break points they offered and were rock solid, winning 76 percent of their service points. The 7th seeds improved to 9-1 on the season with the win.
Tuesday Quarterfinals
All four quarterfinals in both the women's and men's draws will take place on Tuesday. The Rodionova sisters highlight the slate at Rod Laver Arena as they battle Xu-Zheng. Margaret Court Arena will house three of the quarterfinal matches with men's action opening the schedule with 9th seeds Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock battling 16th seeds Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers. Top seeds Hingis-Mirza will follow as they are set to take on 12th seeds Coco Vandeweghe and Anna-Lena Groenefeld.