Doubles Take: Wimbledon on track after rain

Doubles Take returns with your daily look at the teams in play at Wimbledon.

The toughest opponent for all the players on Wednesday was the rain, which forced the suspension of a number of matches that will finish up later today. Most of the seeds that did complete their contests prevailed, with the exception of the No. 10 team Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram, who dropped their opener to the veteran Robert Lindstedt and Robin Haase, who’s shown quite the knack for doubles the past couple of years.

Here’s a look at a few of the matches taking place today.

1

Timea Babos/Kristina Mladenovic (1) vs. Eri Hozumi/Miyu Kato

At the French Open, Babos and Mladenovic were on track to win a second major in a row until Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya stopped them in the quarterfinals. If you had a number in front of your names, you were in trouble against the Japanese pair, who defeated five seeds on their way to the final in Paris. Babos and Mladenovic won’t take Hozumi and Kato lightly as this team has also known Grand Slam success by reaching the semifinals in Australia in 2017.

2

Raluca Olaru/Yafan Wang vs. Latisha Chan/Shuai Peng (5)

After posting one of the best doubles seasons in recent memory last year, Chan’s follow-up campaign hasn’t gone to plan. She’s playing at Wimbledon with a former No. 1 in Peng, but they’re coming off a first-round loss in Eastbourne on grass in their only tournament together this year. They’re facing tricky opponents in Olaru and Wang, both of whom have solid doubles credentials.

3

Jack Sock/Mike Bryan (7) vs. Daniele Bracciali/Andreas Seppi

Sock’s 2018 has been nothing short of a disaster on the singles side with a first-round loss at Wimbledon among the losses. However, he’s had a standout campaign on the doubles court, winning three titles with three different partners. Playing with Mike Bryan while Bob Bryan is recuperating from an injury, the Americans could face a test from their Italian opponents, but should prevail.

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