PARIS, France - Mihaela Buzarnescu just can’t stop winning in Paris - paired up with fellow Romanian Irina Bara, the duo came back from a set down to defeat No.4 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Chan Yung Jan (“Latisha”) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
In singles, Buzarnescu made her Roland Garros main draw debut this year, and powered to a Round of 16 spot - her best result ever at a Grand Slam - after stunning No.4 seed Elina Svitolina in straight sets.
Now into the third round in doubles alongside Bara, Buzarnescu has reached the best result of her Grand Slam career in both competitions - an incredible achievement for the late blooming 30-year-old.
While the No.4 seeded team weren’t so lucky, the rest of the top three seeds were able to move on in Roland Garros doubles action. Top seeds Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic - the reigning Australian Open champions, a regular pairing who’ve got an Indian Wells semifinal and Madrid Open final under their belts this season as well - eased past Nao Hibino and Oksana Kalashnikova 6-1, 6-3.
The No.2 seeded Czech pairing of Barbora Strycova and Andrea Sestini-Hlavackova came back from a set down against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Samantha Stosur to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, while No.3 seeds Andreja Klepac and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez edged past Irina-Camelia Begu and Wang Qiang 6-3, 7-5.
Another all-Czech pairing was triumphant today, with No.6 seeds Barbora and Katerina Siniakova fighting past Tatjana Maria and Heather Watson, 6-1, 2-6, 7-5, and No.5 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan had little trouble against Kaitlyn Christian and Carina Witthoeft, winning 6-2, 6-2.
Also into the third round, Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya upset the No.11 seeds Raquel Atawo and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, and all-American duo Jennifer Brady and Vania King booked their spot with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 comeback over Kateryna Bondarenko and Aleksandra Krunic.