Doubles Take: Semifinal spots are up for grabs

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Doubles Take: Semifinal spots are up for grabs

All four women's quarterfinal matches are set for today.

ByVan Sias

Published Jan 22, 2018

As the draws wind down, Doubles Take is back with the latest in team play at the Australian Open.

The “Murray Slam” watch is officially over as Jamie’s winning streak in mixed doubles came to an end yesterday. Aussies Storm Sanders and Marc Polmans beat the top-seeded Murray and Chan Yung-Jan in straight sets. Murray won the last two majors of 2017 with Martina Hingis.

While Murray’s mixed streak is done, two teams in men’s doubles keep on going in 2018: Unbeatens Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, and Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, won three-setters to make it to the quarterfinals.

On the women’s side, the quarterfinals are all set with all four matches being played today.

Here’s three match picks for your viewing pleasure.

(1) Chan Yung-Jan/Andrea Hlavackova vs. (5) Timea Babos/Kristina Mladenovic:

On Monday, Chan faced off against her sister—and former doubles partner—Hao-Ching Chan, as she and Hlavackova came away with the win. On Tuesday, it’s Hlavackova’s turn to go up against a familiar face in Babos; mere months after the two won the WTA Finals.

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With only one set dropped between them, both of the new partnerships have shown they are in sync this tournament. Chan and Hlavackova appear to be playing at another level, and their doubles savvy should help them against the Hungarian/French combo, who, despite their past successes, primarily focus on singles.

(4) Barbora Strycova/Lucie Safarova vs. (8) Su-Wei Hsieh/Shuai Peng:

Strycova and Hsieh are both coming off mentally draining fourth-round singles losses on Monday, where they won the first set, but ended up losing in three to Karolina Pliskova and Angelique Kerber, respectively. How much will they have in the tank emotionally and physically? While both teams are accustomed to success, Hsieh and Peng’s Grand Slam-winning pedigree should have an impact on the outcome.

(6) Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan vs. (15) Marcin Matkowski/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi:

As Bob Bryan put it on Instagram: “Survive and advance.” That’s exactly what the twins have been doing, as they have been forced to rally from a set down in each of their matches. They’ll have to be on top of their games from the first ball against fellow veterans Matkowski and Qureshi.

Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias