Makarova makes swift recovery to seal doubles win

If Ekaterina Makarova was disappointed with her third round 3-6, 6-2, 3-6 No.1 Court ladies’ singles defeat to 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova  earlier in the day she didn’t let it show when she returned to the SW19 lawns  a few hours later for her ladies’ doubles match against Christina Mchale and Tamira Paszek.

The Russian, partnering compatriot Elena Vesnina, employed the same devastating power play that had pushed the Czech No.8 seed so close to see off the American/Austrian duo 7-6, 6-1 on the more humble Court 6 stage and advance to the third round.

The news was not so joyous for three-times Wimbledon ladies’ doubles winner Cara Black and partner Marina Erakovic, the No.11 seeds, who fell at the hands of Eugenie Bouchard and Petra Martic in two nail-biting tie-breaks. Ultimately it was the strong serving that gave the Canadian/Croatian duo the edge– they delivered five aces, while Black and Erakovic failed to muster one between them.

The No.6 seeds, Liezel Huber and Sania Mirza, were also dealt a testing time at the hands of Flavia Penetta and Andrea Petkovic . The American/Indian team, who fought their way through a three-set match in the previous round, were made to work for almost two hours before sealing their 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-2 victory.

They weren’t alone. The No.8 seeds, Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng, were required to spend one minute longer on court to oust Stephanie Foretz Gacon and Eva Hrdinova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The journey into the third round was far easier for Nadia Petrova and Slovakia’s Katerina Srebotnik, who employed a devastating baseline game peppered with aggressive net play to triumph over Varvara Lepchenko and Saisai Zheng 7-5, 6-3.

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