PARIS, France -- Just as the sun was setting on Sunday, Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico completed a 6-2, 7-6(3) upset of No.5 seeds Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands, to complete the mixed doubles quarterfinal lineup at the French Open.
The 69-minute match started late in the day, following Klepac's tight three-set win over Serena and Venus Williams in women's doubles with her partner, María José Martínez Sánchez. But it was Srebotnik and Gonzalez who were stronger on the day in this match, winning 61 percent of points on their second serve (compared to 47 percent for Klepac and Rojer) and never being broken in the contest.
Klepac may have been feeling the effects of her women's doubles win, as she was the only player broken in the encounter, dropping serve twice in the first set to give Srebotnik and Gonzalez the one-set advantage. The powerful all-court play by Gonzalez was too much for Klepac and Rojer to handle in the first set, as he and Srebotnik raced to clinch the opener by winning 53 percent of points on return.
But the second set was much more competitive, as both teams held serve throughout without much fuss. Srebotnik faced a break point on her serve at 3-3, but a winning Gonzalez volley erased it, and they claimed the deciding point to lead 4-3 after a Klepac backhand went wide.
Klepac hammered a backhand service return winner to bring her team to deciding point at 5-5, but she shot a backhand return into the net on the next point to allow Srebotnik to hold serve for 6-5. Nevertheless, Klepac slammed a backhand winner to hold at love in the next game, sending the second set to a tiebreak.
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Rojer claimed the first mini-break with a volley winner to go up 3-2, but that would be the last point he and Klepac would win in the match. Srebotnik and Gonzalez knocked off three points in a row, then Srebotnik punched a volley for a winner to lead 6-3 and hold three match points.
On the first match point, a brilliant Srebotnik forehand lob fell into the corner for a winner, closing out the victory with a five-point winning streak.
Top seeds and reigning Australian Open champions Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Mate Pavic of Croatia moved into the quarterfinals as well, with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Andrea Sestini Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France.
No.2 seeds Latisha Chan of Chinese Taipei and Ivan Dodig of Croatia needed a match tiebreak to reach the final eight, eventually overcoming American Vania King and Croatia's Franko Skugor, 6-3, 3-6, [10-7] in an hour and 26 minutes.
Also moving into the quarterfinals were Nicole Melichar of the United States and Alexander Peya of Austria, who beat China's Zhang Shuai and Australia's John Peers, 6-4, 3-6, [10-7], and the Dutch team of Demi Schuurs and Matwe Middelkoop, who defeated the French pairing of Kristina Mladenovic and Alexis Musialek, 6-4, 7-5.