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Chinese players advance in women's, mixed doubles at Australian Open

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Although all of China's players have been eliminated from singles action at the Australian Open, many of the country's competitors are still going strong in other categories. That includes Guo Hanyu, who along with her partner, Alexandra Panova of Russia, came from one set down to beat the USA's Sabrina Santamaria and Bernarda Pera 5-7, 7-6(1), 7-5 in the second round of women's doubles on Friday.

Guo Hanyu (R) runs down a shot in the Australian Open women's doubles first round in Melbourne, Australia, January 16, 2025. /CFP
Guo Hanyu (R) runs down a shot in the Australian Open women's doubles first round in Melbourne, Australia, January 16, 2025. /CFP

Guo Hanyu (R) runs down a shot in the Australian Open women's doubles first round in Melbourne, Australia, January 16, 2025. /CFP

The 26-year-old Guo is only playing in the women's doubles category in Melbourne. She and Panova faced a strong challenge from their American opponents, and dropped the first set, 7-5. The 12th-seeded Chinese and Russian duo bounced back to take the second in a tiebreaker 7-1. That forced a decider, where Guo and Panova prevailed 7-5, after a battle lasting nearly three hours. They will face either Elise Mertens and Ellen Perez or Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the round of 16.

In mixed doubles at the Australian Open, China's Zhang Shuai and India's Rohan Bopanna reached the second round, after a straight-sets victory against Kristina Mladenovich of France and Ivan Dodig of Croatia.

Zhang, who will turn 36 on Tuesday, teamed up with the 44-year-old Bopanna to face her women's doubles partner, the 31-year-old Mladenovich, as well as the 37-year-old Dodig, in the first round. Zhang is playing in three events this year, including women's singles. She and Bopanna broke their opponents twice in both sets, on the way to a 6-4, 6-4 victory.

"I have a quite balanced schedule this year, and in the last four days, I had one match per day, which is very good for me," said Zhang. "I'm glad to win against such strong opponents, the same team that we faced in the mixed doubles semifinals in the 2022 Australian Open, when they came from behind to beat us, before clinching the mixed doubles title later. I hope we play well in the rest of our matches."

In another mixed doubles match, Olympic silver medalist Zhang Zhizhen teamed up with Paris 2024 champion Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, to face Asia Muhammad of the USA and Andres Molteni of Argentina. After Muhammad and Molteni took the first set 6-3, Zhang and Siniakova sent the second set into a tiebreaker. But their opponents prevailed 7-2, and advanced to face Anna Danilina and Harri Heliovaara in the second round.

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