Number 16 seeds safely through to Ladies’ Doubles semi-finals

Caroline Dolehide (USA) and  Shuai Zhang (Chn) (16) bt Oksana Kalashnikova (Geo) and Iryna Shymanovich 6-4/6-1

By Charlie Stong on Court No.3

Number 16 seeds Caroline Dolehide and Shuai Zhang are through to the Ladies’ Doubles semi-finals after a comprehensive straight sets win against Oksana Kalashnikova and Iryna Shymanovich.

The pair won 6-4/6-1 on Court No.3 in almost exactly an hour’s play this morning.

The first set was an even contest until the seventh game, when Zhang lost her serve. She managed to recover from 0-40 but a Kalashnikova overhead claimed the first break.

But after Shymanovich was immediately broken back, the seeds never really looked like losing this one.

Dolehide, who played much better than her singles rank of 100 suggests, held comfortably, before the seeds broke serve again – this time that of Kalashnikova, to take the set.

Kalashnikova managed to save one set point, but sent down a double fault at deuce, then netted a forehand.

The second set was much more straightforward for Dolehide and Zhang, who raced through it 6-1, twice breaking the serve of Shymanovic before Dolehide served out for their places in the semis.

Pictured top: Caroline Dolehide and  Shuai Zhang v Oksana Kalashnikova and Iryna Shymanovich on Court No.3 (Picture: Charlie Stong)