Americans on top in doubles

Williamses the conquerors The Williams sisters once again stole the headlines in the doubles with a faultless display on Court 18 against China's Zi Yan and Jie Zheng. Venus and Serena, both of whom had sealed victories of their own earlier in the day, completed a perfect "double bagel" 6-0, 6-0 to ensure their place in the fourth round. But it was fellow Americans Bob and Mike Bryan who were the first duo to make it through to the fourth round on Day Seven with a convincing straight sets victory over Leos Friedl and David Skoch. The former Wimbledon doubles champions breezed through 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 in just under an hour and a half to once again underline their status as genuine contenders for the men’s title. James Blake and Mardy Fish made it a hat-trick of wins for the Americans. overcoming 15th seeds Martin Damm and Robert Lindstedt 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 6-4. Defending champions Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic maintained their impressive record at SW19 after triumphing over the British team of Jamie Delgado and Jonathan Marray 7-5, 6-4, 6-4. The Bryan brothers returned later in the day to record second victories in the mixed doubles. Mike and Bob, playing alongside Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Samantha Stosur respectively both cruised to straight set victories. Top ladies' seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber survived a scare against Czech duo Barbora Benesova Strycova and Iveta Benesova to advance to the next round. Black and Huber recovered from a one-set deficit to secure a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. There was no such trouble for number two seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual who lived up to their billing by reaching the fourth round in relative ease with a straight sets 7-5, 6-3 win over Alla Kudryavtseva and Monica Niculescu. Elsewhere, there were four-set wins for Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach and Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles who beat Christopher Kas and Viktor Troicki and Prakash Amritraj and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi respectively.