Zimbabwe's players aim at Wimbledon double titles

Updated：2007-06-27 From：Xinhuanet

HARARE, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Two of Zimbabwe's top tennis players Cara Black and Kevin Ullyett are in London gunning for the women's and men's doubles titles, The Herald reported on Tuesday.

Although focus will be on the singles, there will also be interest in the doubles which have over the past years produced some exciting matches in both sections.

And the Zimbabwean flag will once again be flying at Wimbledon, hopefully for the next two weeks, as both Black and Ullyett fight for honors in the women's and men's doubles.

Black and her South African partner Liezel Huber, who won the 2005 Wimbledon women's doubles title, are back at their favorite hunting ground on grass in London where they are seeded second in this year's competition.

Winners of the doubles title at the Australian Open in January this year, Black and Huber are back in London searching for their second Grand Slam title of the season.

They open their campaign with a tricky first round tie against the unseeded French pair of seasoned campaigner Nathalie Dechy and Severine Bremond later this week.

Black and Huber moved to London on Sunday after playing in a warm-up grass court tournament in Eastbourne last week where they reached the semi-finals, losing to Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbsin a third set tie-break on Saturday.

They now hope to pick up the pieces and go all the way to the final at Wimbledon in a fortnight.

Black's fellow Zimbabwean Ullyett is partnering Australia's Paul Hanley in the men's doubles and the two are seeded sixth.

Like Black and Huber, Ullyett and Hanley also face French opponents, unseeded Nicola Devilder and Paul-Henri Mathieu, in their opening match.

Unlike Black and Huber, who have already collected four doubles crowns on the road this year, Ullyett and Hanley seem to be struggling with their game in this year's campaign where they have only won one title at the Sydney International tournament in Australia at the beginning of the year.

They are hoping for a change of fortunes at Wimbledon where most of the world's top doubles teams struggle to adapt to grass and fall by the wayside in the early stages of the competition.