Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Collin Matiza
7 January 2009
Harare — CARA Black and Liezel Huber - the undisputed world women's tennis doubles champions - made a winning start to the new year when they advanced to the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International tournament in Australia yesterday.
Zimbabwe's Black and her American partner Huber, who are playing in their first tournament since November last year when they finished the 2008 season as the co-world number ones in the women's doubles rankings, beat France's Severine Bremond and Olga Govortsova of Belarus in the opening round of the US$220 000 season-opening tournament.
According to reports from Brisbane, top seeds Black and Huber, winners of 10 titles on the road last year, including the US Open crown and the prestigious Sony Ericsson Championship title -- a mighty haul that bettered their 2007 effort by one -- recorded a perfunctory first round win over Bremond and Govortsova, 6-3, 6-3.
Bremond and Govortsova were unseeded.
In yesterday's match, Black and Huber started 0-2 down, but quickly regrouped, and won it 6-3, 6-3.
Up next for Black and Huber in the last eight are Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and Japan's Ai Sugiyama.
Former regular partners Hantuchova and Sugiyama reunited to beat young Australian wildcards Sophie Ferguson and Monika Wejnert 6-2, 6-3 to book a quarter-final date with Black and Huber. Hantuchova and Sugiyama are unseeded.
In the other first round match yesterday, second-seeded Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine, who are preparing to defend their Australian Open title in Melbourne later this month, came from behind to down Romania's Monica Niculescu and Alisa Kleybanova of Russia in a match tie-break.
The Bondarenko sisters rallied to win 3-6, 6-4, 10-7.
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Italy's Francesca Schiavone, the number three seeds, beat Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus and Russia's Anastasia Rodionova in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, while fourth seeds Sun Tiantian and Yan Zi, both of China, edged the Czech Republic's Iveta Benesova and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 3-6, 7-6 (12), 10-6. -- AFP.
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