Garcia & Mladenovic Hold Nerve
ROME, Italy – Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic overcame a mid-match wobble to defeat Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday.
In their opening match, Garcia and Mladenovic came within two points of defeat, and they once again sailed close to the wind, eventually coming through, 7-6(4), 1-6, 10-7.
A chance for Olympic glory prompted the union between Garcia and Mladenovic, who had previously been in successful partnerships with Katarina Srebotnik and Timea Babos, respectively. And while the French duo took a handful of events to gel, the partnership has flourished on the clay.
Victory over Garrigues and Parra Santonja extends their unbeaten streak to 15 matches, a run taking in tournament victories in Charleston, Stuttgart and Madrid. No.4 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka are the next team hoping to end the run, securing their quarterfinal place with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Sara Errani and Lara Arruabarrena.
Elsewhere, there were mixed fortunes for two of the other leading teams. Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik followed up their surprise win over the Williams sisters by knocking out No.2 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova, 6-3, 6-4.
No.3 seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova had no such trouble, overcoming Italian wildcards Claudia Giovine and Angelica Moratelli, 6-3, 6-2.