Zimpapers Logo

DOUBLE TROUBLE . . . Zimbabwe’s Cara Black (left) and Marina Erakovic of New Zealand rest between sets during their women’s doubles tennis first round match against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia and Varvara Lepchenko of the United States at the Southern California Open at Carlsbad in Southern California, US, on Tuesday night. — AFP

Collin Matiza Sports Editor
CARA Black, one of the “old war-horses” of professional women’s tennis, is through to the quarter-finals of the doubles competition of the Southern California Open tournament at Carlsbad in Southern California, United States. The 34-year-old Zimbabwean player and her partner Marina Erakovic of New Zealand on Tuesday defeated Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova and American Varvara Lepchenko 7-5, 6-2 in the opening round to move into the last eight of the US$795 707 tournament, according to reports from Carlsbad.
Both teams were unseeded.

Up next for Black, who is gunning for her fifth doubles title at Carlsbad, and Erakovic in the quarter-finals is the second-seeded pair of American Liezel Huber and Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain who laboured to beat South Africa’s Natalie Grandin and Alicja Rosolska of Poland 5-7, 6-3, 13-11 in the other first round match on Tuesday.

Grandin and Rosolska were unseeded.
Erakovic is playing doubles with Black after she made an early exit in the singles of the same competition earlier on Tuesday.
New Zealand’s women’s tennis No.1 player Erakovic was let down by her serve as she crashed to a first round defeat in the singles at the Southern California Open in Carlsbad.

Erakovic served 12 double faults in the 7-6, 6-4 loss to Urszula Radwanska of Poland.
The Aucklander, who won three qualifiying matches to reach the main draw, struggled to place pressure on the world No.39 because of her second serve problems.

The world No.78 also exited in the first round of her previous tournament in Stanford, California last week.
That followed three successive third-round appearances — at the French Open, Birmingham Classic and Wimbledon.

The 25-year-old is now remaining at the US$795 707 event in Carlsbad to contest the doubles. She is reuniting with Black, having enjoyed a series of successful results with the Zimbabwe veteran in recent months.

The Southern California Open is the second women’s stop of the Emirates Airline US Open Series, the North American summer hardcourt slate of events between Wimbledon and the US Open.

German Steffi Graf has the tournament record with four titles. Other past winners include three-time champion Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport, Justine Henin, Martina Hingis, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Conchita Martínez, Mary Pierce and Maria Sharapova.
Zimbabwe’s Black has the most doubles titles with four.

Staged since 1984 and a past winner of the WTA’s Premier Tournament of the Year, the event is held in Carlsbad, California, at the La Costa Resort and Spa, a popular US tennis destination.

Carlsbad is an affluent, scenic resort city 35 miles north of San Diego along the Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, former world number one Hingis of Switzerland is playing in the doubles competition of the Southern California Open in Carlbad.
Women’s tennis legend Hingis, who was inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame three weeks ago, accepted a wildcard into the doubles draw of the Southern California Open and she is partnering Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

They were scheduled to play German Julia Goerges and Croatian Darija Jurak in the first round late last night.
In Carlsbad the 32-year-old Hingis will be making her first WTA tournament appearance since September 2007. The former number one player in the world captured 43 career WTA singles titles, including five Grand Slam singles championships and 37 career WTA doubles titles, including nine Grand Slam doubles championships.

Hingis will be making her eighth career appearance in Carlsbad. A two-time singles champion, Hingis defeated Monica Seles, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the 1997 final and Venus Williams, 6-4, 6-0, in the 1999 final. She also captured the 1997 doubles title with Spain’s Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.

In addition to playing doubles, Hingis will spend time during the tournament at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa promoting her new signature tennis collection — Tonic by Martina Hingis. The new clothing line from Tonic Lifestyle Apparel is the Official Clothing Partner of the Southern California Open.