Tennis: Hingis and Pierce into doubles quarter finals

Pierce (left) and Hingis celebrate their win Keystone

Switzerland's Martina Hingis and her playing partner, France's Mary Pierce, are through to the quarter finals of the women's doubles at the French Open.

Hingis and Pierce raced to a straight sets win (6-3, 6-4) over America’s Jennifer Capriati and Australia’s Jelena Dokic, before the rain once again disrupted the schedule at Roland Garros. The bad weather could now interrupt Hingis’s progress in the singles tournament, where she is next due to play America’s Chanda Rubin.

Victory over Rubin would see the Swiss player into the semi-finals in Paris for the fourth consecutive year, and well on course to capture the only Grand Slam title to so far elude her.

The presence of Dokic on the doubles court must have been a little unnerving for the world number one, though, as she tries to banish the demons of last season. It was the young Australian who last summer dumped Hingis out of Wimbledon in the first round, two weeks after the world number one had lost the French Open final and her cool in a tantrum-filled performance against Steffi Graf.

swissinfo with agencies