Kiki on course for more doubles success

Mladenovic and Babos on the doubles title hunt again after reaching RG semis.

Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos© Philippe Montigny / FFT
 - Ian Chadband and Kate Battersby

Kristina Mladenovic, one of Roland-Garros’s perennial favourites, had the crowds cheering again on Tuesday when, partnered by Hungary’s Timea Babos, the French woman came through a tough women’s doubles quarter-final against Australia’s Sam Stosur and China’s Shuai Zhang.

The No.2 seeds had to come from a set down before winning the decisive tie-breaker 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(3) against the No.5 seeds - who beat them in the Australian Open final - and set up a semi-final against the winners of the match between Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka, the sixth seeds, and Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok.

It put Mladenovic and Babos a step closer to their second Grand Slam together following their Australian Open triumph last year, while 'Kiki' is also homing in on another Roland-Garros crown after her success with Caroline Garcia here three years ago.

> WOMEN'S DOUBLES DRAW

The other semi-final will feature Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens and Sweden’s Johanna Larsson, the 15th seeded pair who beat the seventh seeds Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1, up against the Chinese duo of Yingying Duan and Saisai Zheng, victors over fourth seeds Yifan Xu and Gabriela Dabrowski 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.

The latest pairing through to the semi-finals of the men’s doubles were the Germans Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, who beat another unseeded duo, Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic and Dusan Lajovic 6-1, 6-7(4), 7-6(3).

> MEN'S DOUBLES DRAW

In an all-unseeded semi-final, Krawietz and Mies will take on Guido Pella and Diego Schwarzmann, who had already won through on Monday.

Home favourites Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin put paid to the hopes of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 6-4, 7-6(6). In the semi-finals Chardy and Martin will face third seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who also won through on Monday.

Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin© Philippe Montigny / FFT

Meanwhile, Dabrowski was also in quarter-final action in the mixed doubles. Seeded No.2 alongside Mate Pavic, they came back from an early reverse to beat No.5 seeds Shuai Zhang and John Peers 1-6, 7-5, 10-8.

> MIXED DOUBLES DRAW

In the semis, Dabrowski and Pavic will meet Nadiia Kichenok and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, who defeated the No.6 seeds Oliver Marach and Hao-ching Chan 6-3, 6-4.