China's Zheng/Wang beat women's doubles 11th seeds at Australian Open

China's Zheng Saisai and Wang Xinyu knocked out the 11th seeds, Russia's Veronika Kudermetova and Japan's Ena Shibahara, 6-1, 7-5 in in one hour and 29 minutes in the second round of women's doubles at the Australian Open on Sunday.

The Chinese pair were dominant from the outset of the match, twice taking three games in a row, to grab the first set in 30 minutes.

Zheng and Wang claimed 28 points in the opener – compared to 15 for Kudermetova and Shibahara – and only dropped four points on serve.

The 11th seeds fought back and reeled off the first three games of the second set, including an 11-minute third game that went to deuce five times.

A solid service game from Zheng got the Chinese duo on the board at 3-1, before a break of Kudermetova's serve to love, and a tricky hold from Wang leveled the frame at 3-3.

Leading 5-4, Kudermetova and Shibahara had two set points against Wang's serve, but could not convert.

In the next game, Zheng and Wang sealed a critical second break – this time off the serve of Shibahara – for a 6-5 lead.

Zheng and Wang needed only one match point in the following game to close out the contest, and put it away to book their place in the round of 16.

"We got off to a good start in this match, which was quite a surprise for us, as in our previous matches, we struggled a little bit before getting smoother. The second set was tight, as we were broken first, but we did not panic, and focused on the strategy we had planned, and played calmly with decisive action," said Wang.