NEW YORK, NY, USA - Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond have been as impressive as any team in the US Open doubles draw so far, the latest example being their 62 61 rout of Akgul Amanmuradova and Alexandra Panova on Friday.
Huber, who has one US Open title, and Raymond, who has two, are playing together here for the first time. The No.4 seeds have dropped just seven games through two matches, but the competition should get tougher from here on out, starting with their next opponents - No.16 seeds Jarmila Gajdosova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Another third round encounter featuring seeds was also set, with sixth-seeded Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina set to clash with ninth-seeded Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. In their second round matches, Mirza and Vesnina beat Vitalia Diatchenko and Olga Savchuk, 61 76(5), while Benesova and Zahlavova Strycova were up 67(5) 60 42 on Irina-Camelia Begu and Simona Halep when the Romanians had to retire because of a right calf strain suffered by Halep.
Also advancing were defending champions and No.3 seeds Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova, who raised their career record at Grand Slams to 19-2 with a 62 62 defeat of Eleni Daniilidou and Polona Hercog. No.15 seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci were 60 64 winners over Anastasija Sevastova and Zhang Shuai. The only seeds to lose were No.14 seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja, beaten 62 62 by Hsieh Su-Wei and Galina Voskoboeva.
The first round was also completed Friday, highlighted by second-seeded Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta handling wildcards Alison Riske and Sloane Stephens, 63 60. The day was especially memorable for Pennetta, as she upset Maria Sharapova in singles earlier.
