ZIMBABWE’S Cara Black and her American playing partner Lisa Raymond were handed close to a perfect draw for their quest to win the ladies doubles title at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships which served off at the All-England Club in London on Monday.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
The veteran pair was drawn against the unseeded duo of Johanna Larson of Sweden and Croatia’s Petra Martic in the first round of the ladies doubles competition tomorrow.
Should Black and Raymond clear the first hurdle, they will face the winner of the other first round match between the all-Spanish team of Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro, who face off against Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania and Spain’s Sílvia Espinosa.
Black, who won the ladies doubles title at Wimbledon three times in 2004, 2005, and 2007, recently confirmed her new partnership with Raymond after ending her short-lived combination with China’s Saisai Zheng at the start of the year.
However despite only teaming up just before the start of the grass court season, Black and Raymond appear to have struck a good understanding of each other’s play, reaching the quarter-finals or better in their last three outings.
The pair reached the semi-finals once at the Aegon Ilkley Trophy in West Yorkshire and the quarter-finals on two occasions in Eastbourne and Nottingham during their recent warm-up tournaments ahead of the start of the Wimbledon.
In other women’s doubles match-ups, top seeds Sania Mirza from India and Switzerland’s Martina Hingis will begin their Wimbledon campaign against Zheng and Zarina Diyas from Kazakhstan.
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Five-time champions Serena and Venus Williams are also in the draw and will start against Great Britain’s Johanna Konta and Maria Sanchez of the United States.
Black is also scheduled to play in the mixed doubles, but the draw for the competition will only be made available tomorrow. The Harare-born tennis player has won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon twice in 2004 and 2010.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s Courtney Lock suffered a 6-1, 6-1 straight sets defeat to Nicolaas Scholtz from South Africa in the opening round of the Old Mutual Zimbabwe F3 ITF Futures at Harare Sports Club.
In other first round results, winner of the Old Mutual Zimbabwe F1 ITF Futures two weeks ago, Evan King of the US, beat South Africa’ Pieter Botha 6-1, 6-1, while South Africa’s Tucker Vorster breezed past his compatriot Reinhardt Trolip after a 6-0, 6-2 win.
Joshua Cheety from South Africa was no match for American Reed Anderson, who cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win, while Switzerland’s Vullnet Tashi knocked out Uganda’s Duncan Mugabe after a 6-2, 6-0 win.
The tournament continues today with the second round matches.
