Wildcard pairing Hephzibah Oluwadare and Mika Stojsavljevic were thrilled to avoid a deciding set as they started their girls’ doubles campaign at Wimbledon with victory.
British pairing Oluwadare, who trains at the LTA’s National Academy in Stirling, and Stojsavljevic were back in court after both playing their second round girls’ singles matches on Monday.
And the duo started their campaign with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Mia Slama and Amélie Šmejkalová, closing out the match at the second time of asking after holding a 5-2 lead in the second set.
“I think it was quite good overall,” said Stojsavljevic, who trains at the LTA’s National Academy in Loughborough and is also through to round three of her singles campaign.
“I think in the first set we started quite slow, but we got that break at 5-5 and went on from there. We had a little hiccup at 5-2 `but we recollected and did pretty well.
“Especially with doubles, there’s a lot more energy. You’re with your friends and it’s just great vibes out there.”
Oluwadere added: “It was good – happy to get the win in straight sets obviously, as with tiebreaks you never know what’s going to happen. It’s just nice to get a win in front of the home crowd.”
The duo could face fifth seeds Hayu Kinoshita and Sara Saito in the next round, and know they will need to play well to seal victory.
Stojsavljevic commented: “I think it’s about keeping that aggressive mindset, being confident with our overheads and using our serves to open up the court space.”
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