Barbora Krejcikova and Laura Siegemund rolled into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open women's doubles draw on Monday with a 6-4, 6-0 win over unseeded Emma Navarro and Diana Shnaider -- but not before the Shnaider turned heads with one of the shots of the fortnight.
Navarro and Shnaider, who turned pro after decorated college tennis careers at the University of Virginia and North Carolina State University, respectively, reached the third round in Melbourne on the strength of a three-set upset of No.10 seeds Chan Hao-ching and Giuliana Olmos in the second round -- and showed that form as they pushed the two Grand Slam champions hard in the opener. Navarro and Shnaider led 3-0, before the No.5 seeds rounded into form by winning five straight games en route to stealing the set.
Krejcikova and Siegemund continued to put the pressure on to start the second set. The veteran duo led 15-30 on Shnaider's serve in the first game as they looked to push their run of games to seven won in eight played.
The youngsters had the early advantage in the rally with some powerful groundstrokes -- but Krejcikova used all her feel and guile to dig out a couple of impressive forehand volleys to keep the point going. Soon, Siegemund seemed to switch the advantage in the point thanks to a perfectly-placed lob over Navarro's head.
Until Shnaider struck. The 19-year-old hustled out to her forehand side and rifled a crosscourt passing shot that landed on a dime past the encroaching German at the net -- eliciting rousing cheers from the John Cain Arena crowd, and incredulous reactions from the commentary booth.
Unfortunately for the former collegians, there was little to celebrate from then on: Krejcikova and Siegemund eventually rolled to victory 6-4, 6-0 to set up a quarterfinal meeting with No. 3 seeds Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova. It'll be the first match between former longtime doubles partners Krejcikova and Siniakova since the Czechs announced the dissolution of their doubles partnership last fall.
