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China's Zhang Shuai and France's Kristina Mladenovic battled back after dropping the first four games to win their women's doubles third round match at the Australian Open in straight sets on Monday.
Zhang and Mladenovic, the ninth seeds at Melbourne Park, beat fifth seeds Chan Hao-Ching of Chinese Taipei and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine 7-6, 6-2 in one hour and 43 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals.
Zhang Shuai of China (R) and Kristina Mladenovic of France celebrate after taking a point against Chan Hao-Ching of Chinese Taipei and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine in a women's doubles round of 16 match at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, January 20, 2025. /CFP
Zhang and Mladenovic, who have a combined 11 Grand Slam titles between them, both had their serves broken early, leaving the duo trailing 4-0 in the opening set.
In the following game, Zhang saved another break point to hold serve and cut the deficit to 4-1. She and Mladenovic dominated from there, winning 12 of the next 16 games, as well as a tiebreak.
After coming back to force the opening set into that tiebreak, Zhang and Mladenovic won the first three points.
With Zhang and Mladenovic holding a 3-2 lead, the Chinese player's backhand return caught the baseline by about three millimeters for a winner, and a 4-2 advantage.
A powerful volley from Zhang set up four set points, the second of which was converted.
Another powerful backhand down the line from Zhang polished off a break point opportunity against Kichenok's serve in the opening game of the second set, as the ninth seeds maintained their momentum to take a 4-0 lead of their own.
With Mladenovic serving at 5-2, Zhang hit an overhead volley winner to bring up three match points, only one of which was needed, as Mladenovic slammed the door with an unreturnable serve.
They will face top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, the 2024 Wimbledon champions, in the quarterfinals.
Zhang said that the top seeds were "the best team" in the tournament so far, and that she and Mladenovic would "enjoy every moment" of the match.
In other action, China's Zheng Saisai and Wang Xinyu were knocked out of the women's doubles in a three-set battle, later on Monday.
The pair saved one match point, but were ultimately beaten by Russia's Kamilla Rakhimova and Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 in a thrilling third round match.
Zheng and Wang won one more point over the course of the match than their opponents, but were outplayed at critical moments in the deciding set. The Russian and Spanish duo will next go up against Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider.
In the men's doubles competition, China's Zhang Zhizhen and his Czech partner Tomas Machac's run at the first Grand Slam of the season is over, after they were beaten in the men's doubles third round on Monday.
Zhang and Machac fought back from a set down at Melbourne Park, but were defeated in the end by the 15th seeds, Hugo Nys and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
The Monegasque and French pair were victorious 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 47 minutes at John Cain Arena to advance to the quarterfinals.