US Open Doubles Preview: Mirza-Hingis, Murray-Peers on court tonight
Doubles action at the US Open resumes once again on Day 9 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in New York City, after an interesting Day 8 of play.
Let’s have a look at some of the important matches from the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles events on Day 9:
Martina Hingis/Sania Mirza (1) vs Yung-Jan Chan/Hao-Ching Chan (9)
Top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza will resume their quest to win the US Open women’s doubles title when they face ninth seeds Yung-Jan Chan and Hao-Ching Chan from Tapei in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
The Indo-Swiss pair have been in imperious form ever since the beginning of the tournament. Their progress has seen them clinch convincing victories over American pair Kaitlyn Christian-Sabrina Santamaria in the first round, unseeded Chia-Jung Chuang-Timea Bacsinszky in the second round and the 13th seeds Michaella Krajicek-Barbora Strycova in the third.
Their opponents come into the match with decent form as well, despite dropping a set in their recent 5-7 6-1 7-6 victory over the Romanian pairing of Irina-Camelia Begu and Raluca Olaru. Previous victories for them include straight-set wins over Dulgheru-Mchale and Germans Barthel-Siegmund.
The two teams have played each only once before, with the match taking place in Cincinnati. Hingis and Mirza took the honours on that day, beating their opponents 6-4, 0-6, 10-6.
Prediction: Hingis and Mirza to progress with a straight-sets win.
Lara Arruabarrena/Andreja Klepac (15) vs Sara Errani/Flavia Pennetta (11)
Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta will take on Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena and Slovak Andreja Klepac in the quarterfinals of the US Open.
The Italian pair have been enduring a slight difficult tournament so far, but are finally getting into their groove ahead of the quarters. They managed to get past round 3 of the tournament when they beat the favoured 6th seeds Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Speares 5-7 6-2 6-2.
15th seeds Arruabarrena and Andreja Klepac have also struggled to get into the groove so far, with all their doubles matches going into the third set so far. They did, however, beat the third seeded Hungarian-French pairing of Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic 6-4 4-6 6-4 in the third round.
No head to head records exist for this match, making it the first time the pairs are facing each other.
Prediction: Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta to take this one in a close three-setter, due to their better recent form.
Andrea Hlavackova/Lukasz Kubot vs Anastasia Rodionova/Max Mirnyi
Two unseeded mixed doubles pairs face off against one another in the quarterfinals of the US Open at the Flushing Meadows.
Andrea Hlavackova from the Czech Republic and the Polish Lukasz Kubot struggled to reach there in the first place after barely seeing off Americans Taylor Townsend and Donald Young 6-7 6-1 [10][5] in Round 2. Round 1 was a much easier affair in contrast, as they surprisingly saw off the Indo-Brazilian pairing of Sania Mirza and Bruno Soares.
Their experienced opponents have been putting in strong showings in the past two rounds that saw them get past Romanians Perianu-Daescu in the first round and Jones-Klaasen in the second.
Prediction: Anastasia Rodionova and Max Mirnyi to take this one, and probably in three sets.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Sam Querrey vs Yaroslava Shvedova/Juan Sebastian Cabal(6)
The American pairing of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sam Querrey will take on sixth seeds Yaroslava Shvedova and Juan Sebastian Cabal in the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event at the US Open.
The unseeded duo stunned 3rd seeds Lucie Hradecka and Marcin Matkowski in an intense first round match that ended 4-6 6-3 [10][7], and followed it up with a 6-1 7-5 victory over Aussies Gavrilova-Peers.
Shvedova and Cabal have also had to encounter a tough three-setter but in the second round, where they somehow managed to brush past Raymond-Murray 7-5 2-6 [10][8]. Their first round match was a lot more straightforward as they beat Klepac-Farah 6-2 6-2.
Prediction: The sixth seeds to take this one in straight sets.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut (12) vs Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau (3)
Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut are set to face Jean-Julien Rojer from the Netherlands and Romania’s Horia Tecau in the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles event on Day 9 of the US Open.
The 12th seeds navigated through the first round of the competition with relative ease, but found it hard to overcome Mate Pavic and Michael Venus in the second round as they limped to a 6-3 7-6 6-7 win. Their third round clash saw them come back to their best though, as they easily got past Granollers-Lopez in straight sets 6-2 6-3.
Third seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, on the other hand, have been having a very easygoing tournament in comparison. The pair dropped just three games en route to a straight-sets victory in round 1, and progressed through to the third round courtesy a walkover in the second. They went on to face Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky from the United States, beating them 7-6 7-5.
This will be the first time the two teams meet in a competitive doubles match.
Prediction: Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau to take this in three sets.
Marcin Matkowski/Nenad Zimonjic (4) vs Jamie Murray/John Peers (8)
The Polish-Serbian duo of Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic qualified for the quarterfinals of the US Open courtesy a 6-3 7-6 win over South African Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram.
The fourth seeds have been floating through the tournament so far, disposing off Spaniards Busta-Lopez 6-3 6-4 in Round 1 and Italians Cecchinato-Seppi 7-6 7-5 in Round 2.
Their eighth-seeded opponents have been very consistent as well over the past three rounds, registering straight-set victories over American pair Frantangelo-Novikov, Giraldo-Junaid and Oswald Shamasdin.
The last time these two faced off with each other was back in May in the Rome Tournament, where Jamie Murray and John Peers 7-6, 7-5.
Prediction: The Britisher-Aussie duo of Jamie Murray and John Peers to take this one, although it will be a much tighter affair this time around.