Eight of ours progress at Wimbledon

TENNIS: Fed Cup teammates Daria Gavrilova and Samantha Stosur will clash for the fourth time this year, guaranteeing at least one Australian will reach the third round of the Wimbledon women’s singles.

Stosur and Gavrilova share the same agent and same sponsor and will share the same court at The All England Club for the first time, having recorded impressive straight-set firstround wins on day two.

Gavrilova needed little more than an hour to see off American teenager Caroline Dolehide 6-2 6-3 before Stosur ousted China’s Peng Shuai 6-4 7-5.

With Ashleigh Barty living up to her 17th seeding in downing Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele 7-5 6-3, Australia has three women in the second round for the first time in three years.

“It’s really exciting,” Gavrilova said. “We were all warming up and we’re sharing a fitness trainer this week – and a physio – and we were all like, ‘OK, let’s get three out of three’. And we did, so it’s pretty cool.”

Gavrilova beat Stosur on a hard court in Sydney in January before the former US Open winner and Roland Garros runner-up turned the tables twice on clay in Prague and Paris.

Victories also for men’s spearhead Nick Kyrgios, fellow former quarter-finalist Bernard Tomic and seed slayers Matt Ebden and Alex de Minaur, plus John Millman’s on day one, have given Australia its best start to the grass-court grand slam in three years.

Barty’s win ended the former junior champion’s seven-year wait for a main-draw win at The All England Club.

She will next play fellow former Wimbledon junior girls’ champion and 2015 women’s runner-up Eugenie Bouchard.

“I love these courts so it’s nice to get my teeth stuck into the tournament a little bit,” Barty said.