Zhang/Mladenovic recover from slow start to reach Australian Open quarterfinals

MELBOURNE, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's Zhang Shuai and France's Kristina Mladenovic overcame losing the first four games to win their third round women's doubles match at the Australian Open in straight sets on Monday afternoon.

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(3), 6-2 in one hour and 43 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals.

Zhang and Mladenovic, who have a combined 11 Grand Slam titles, both had their serves broken early and trailed 4-0 in the opening set.

In the following game, Zhang saved another break point to hold serve for 4-1. From there, she and Mladenovic were dominant, winning 12 of the next 16 games as well as the tiebreak.

After coming back to force the tiebreak in the opening set, Zhang and Mladenovic won the first three points.

In a critical point with a 3-2 lead, a return backhand winner down the line from Zhang caught the baseline by three millimeters for a 4-2 advantage.

A powerful volley from Zhang set up four set points, the second of which was converted.

Another powerful return backhand down the line from Zhang converted a break point opportunity off the serve of Kichenok 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 for three match points, only one of which was needed as Mladenovic won it with an unreturnable wide serve.

They will play 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.