It was business as usual for the top seeds in the ladies’ doubles on Day 3 at The Championships, with No.1 pair Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza and No.2 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina easily advancing to the second round.
Hingis, a two-time Wimbledon ladies’ doubles champion, teamed with Mirza to defeat Zarina Diyas and Saisai Zheng 6-2, 6-2.
The top seeds will next face the experienced pairing of Kimiko Date-Krumm and Francesca Schiavone, who defeated Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Andreja Klepac 6-4, 6-2 to book their place in the second round.
Date-Krumm, who made her Wimbledon debut in 1989, was pleased to make a return to the court on Wednesday after battling with injury for much of the 2015 season. The evergreen 44-year-old is now looking forward to reigniting her rivalry with Hingis in the second round at SW19. “When I saw the draw, [I knew] I need to beat the first round and then I can play with Hingis,” Date-Krumm said.
“Of course, they are No. 1 seed, so it will be very interesting to play together. Hingis has come back two times, three times, I don’t know, but [our] age is a big difference even though she has come back.
“I played championships in Madison Square Gardens, it was my last match against Martina, so it’s going to be interesting for me. She was 16 I think, at that time,” she laughed.
Makarova and Vesnina enjoyed a similarly comfortable run to the second round with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Madison Keys and Laura Robson.
The Russians have reached the last eight at both majors this year, advancing to the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in January and the semi-finals at Roland Garros earlier this month, and on Wednesday took the first step towards their maiden Grand Slam final for the season.
Yung-Jan Chan and Jie Zheng were the only ladies’ doubles seeds to bow out on the third day of play, the No.13 pair going down to Australian duo Jarmila Gajdosova and Ajla Tomljanovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
