Doubles is Australia's last Wimbledon hope

Doubles stars Casey Dellacqua, Ashleigh Barty and John Peers are Australia's best hopes of restoring national pride with some Wimbledon success.

Ashleigh Barty of Australia

Australia's Ashleigh Barty is No.21 in the WTA's doubles rankings. (AAP)

Trusty women's doubles pairing Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua, along with men's doubles top seed John Peers, continue to carry Australia's title hopes into the second week at Wimbledon.

With the one-time tennis super power enduring their worst singles campaign since before World World II, only some doubles success can save Australia from further embarrassment at The All England Club.

Bernard Tomic's lame first-round loss and subsequent self-destruction and Nick Kyrgios's injury-enforced retirement were the lowlights of a forgettable opening week.

But there is still hope.

Finalists at all four grand slams, Barty and Dellacqua have another opportunity to crack it for an elusive first major after setting up a third-round meeting on Tuesday against Belgian Elise Mertens and Dutchwoman Demi Schuurs.

Seeded eighth, Barty's and Dellacqua's prospects have improved significantly after the unfortunate withdrawal of the world's top duo, Lucie Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

The Czech-American team outclassed Barty and Dellacqua in last month's French Open final and were big favourites to complete a non-calendar-year grand slam sweep at Wimbledon until Mattek-Sands dislocated her kneecap in one of the most sickening accidents seen at the All England Club.

Peers remains alive in both the men's and mixed doubles.

He and Finnish partner Henri Kontinen lived up to their top billing to advance to the quarter-finals with a 6-3 3-6 6-1 6-4 third-round win over Frenchman Hugo Nys and Croatian Antonio Sancic on Monday.

Sam Groth, with Swede Robert Lindstedt, is also in third-round action on Monday against Croatian pair Nikola Metkic and Franko Skugor.

Peers and Germany's former singles finalist Sabine Lisicki take on third seeds Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Taiwan's Yung-Jan Chan in the second round of the mixed event.

Anastasia Rodionova, with former Russian compatriot Mikhail Elgin, has a second-round mixed match against the 15th-seeded team of New Zealander Michael Venus and Czech Barbora Krejcikova.

Australian juniors Blake Ellis and Thomas Bosancic will open their boys' singles campaigns after the traditional middle Sunday off.


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Source: AAP



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