Babos, Mladenovic survive doubles thriller in Paris

PARIS, France - Timea Babos is just two wins away from becoming WTA Doubles No.1 after she and Kristina Mladenovic outlasted No.13 seeds Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals.
Babos and Mladenovic must reach the final in order for the 25-year-old Hungarian to ascend to the top spot for the first time in her career - if not, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina will make their own co-No.1 debuts - but the reigning Australian Open champions were on the ropes early against Melichar and Peschke, a former No.1 herself.
The top seeds hadn't lost a set through two previous wins, but had to rally from a set down to level their Court 1 encounter against the underdogs. Breaking early in the decider, Babos and Mladenovic took a 5-3 lead before Melichar and Peschke broke back, only to drop the final two games to bow out after one hour and 54 minutes on court.
Up next for the duo are an unseeded Japanese pair of Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya, who upset No.5 seeds and former Miami Open champions Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yi-Fan, 6-1, 6-2 earlier in the day.
Around the grounds, Mihaela Buzarnescu continued her impressive form in Paris with more doubles success alongside Irina Bara, backing up their upset win over Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Latisha Chan with a victory against Americans Jennifer Brady and Vania King. They'll take on Yang Zhaoxuan and Chan Hao-Ching for a spot in the semifinals.
No.2 seeds Andrea Sestini-Hlavackova and Barbora Strycova completed the quarterfinal line-up with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Duan Ying-Ying and Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Sestini-Hlavackova and Strycova are playing their first major tournament together after partnering up back in the spring, reaching the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open and the final of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.