Doubles specialists Ullyett, Black through

HARARE, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's men's and women's tennis doubles specialists Kevin Ullyett and Cara Black are through to the second round of the French Open, according to local media The Herald on Friday.

First to reach round two of the second Grand Slam of the year were the top-seeded women's doubles team of Black and her American partner Liezel Huber.

Black and Huber eased their way into the second round of the red clay court tournament at the expense of the unseeded duo of Pole Klaudia Jans and Mervana Jugic-Salkic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to reports from Roland Garros in Paris, Black and Huber posted a straightforward 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jans and Jugic-Salkic in one hour 26 minutes in their first round tie.

Black and Huber were never in danger of losing this tie as they took the first set 6-3 in 35 minutes before wrapping up the second and the match 6-4 in 51 minutes.

But the top seeds only produced one ace and committed one double fault while their opponents made two double-faults during the whole match.

Black and Huber were emulated by Ullyett and his Swedish partner Jonas Bjorkman who booked their place in the second round of the men's doubles after beating the battling pair of American Eric Butorac and Ashley Fisher of Australia.

Ullyett and Bjorkman, who are seeded eighth, were stretched to three sets and needed two tie-breaks to beat their unseeded opponents 7-6 (10-8), 1-6, 7-6 (7-2) in a protracted first-round tie which lasted two hours 27 minutes.

It first took Ullyett and Bjorkman 51 minutes to win the first set via a tie-break 7-6 (10-8) before they were rocked back on their heels by Butorac and Ashley who won the second with ease 6-1in only 34 minutes to push the tie into the third and final set.

And all was now set for a frenetic third set in which both sets of teams gave as much as they got, fighting for every point and the match was finally decided through another tie-break which Ullyett and Bjorkman won 7-2 after 62 minutes.

Ullyett and Bjorkman would be the first to admit that this was an ernegy-sapping match in which they came out bruised but not battered as they made their way into the second round.

In Paris, Ullyett and Bjorkman are searching for their first official title of the year since they combined forces for the first time on the road after the Australian Open in January.

Black and Huber, on the other hand, are gunning for their fourth women's doubles title of the year after their success at Antwerp (Belgium), Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and at the German Open in Berlin.