Grand Slams mean more Doubles Take: Here’s your daily report on the goings-on in Paris.
It’s two up, two down for Venus and Serena Williams at the French Open.
The sisters put on another impressive display to defeat Sara Errani and Kirsten Flipkens in the second round today. In the round of 16, they could face the number-three seeds, Andreja Klepac and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
Other teams joining the Americans in the winners’ circle were ninth seeds Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson, and Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke, the 13th seeds.
On the men’s side, three of the top five seeds in the draw one, while there were two upsets: Steve Johnson and Jack Sock beat the No. 11 seeds Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers, and the No. 15 team of Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos lost to Frenchman Calvin Hemery and Stephane Robert.
Here are some of the matches that stand out on the schedule for Saturday.
Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo (1) vs. Rohan Bopanna/Edouard Roger-Vasselin (13): Winning a tournament must feel like a distant memory for the top seeds, who haven’t come away with the first-place hardware since January. That’s better than Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin, neither of whom have won an event this year. The Indian/French duo did reach the semis in Monte Carlo and have managed to win through to their seeded spot in the draw. This is the first big test in Paris for Kubot and Melo as they try to win a second career Grand Slam title together.
Andrea Hlavackova/Babora Strycova (2) vs. Samantha Stosur/Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: The second-seeded Czech team came into Paris on a mini-tear, having reached the semifinals in Madrid and the championship round in Rome.