NEW YORK - A couple of days after No 1 seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci were eliminated from the US Open, Kimiko Date-Krumm and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova ousted No 2 seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai in third round action.
Date-Krumm and Zahlavova Strycova converted on 11 of 15 second serve points, while winning 14 of 21 points on their opponents' second serve en route to a 7-6(4), 6-4 triumph on Monday. Consequentially, this is the first time since 2007 that neither of the top 2 seeded pairings made the US Open quarterfinals.
And though it was certainly a surprise to see the two-time Grand Slam champions beaten by the unseeded Japanese-Czech duo, Date-Krumm and Zahlavova Strycova also won their only previous encounter with Hsieh and Peng earlier this year in Miami. Next up for them are eighth-seeded Andrea Hlavackova and Zheng Jie.
Suddenly finding themselves as the on-paper favorites are No 3 seeds Cara Black and Sania Mirza, who were 6-3, 6-2 winners over Jelena Jankovic and Klara Koukalova and are the only team besides Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta yet to surrender a set.
Speaking of Hingis and Pennetta, the Swiss-Italian combination were 6-1, 6-4 victors over Australians Jarmila Gajdosova and Ajla Tomljanovic.
"It's really nice playing with Martina," said Pennetta, who also advanced to the singles quarterfinals. "She's one of the best doubles players. We have fun on and off the court."
Hingis and Pennetta's quarterfinal foes will be fifth-seeded Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, who edged ninth-seeded Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4).