Move over, Serena and Venus: there's a new sisterly rivalry in the making.
Top seeds Latisha Chan and Andrea Sestini Hlavackova are through to the women’s doubles quarterfinals after seeing off Hao-Ching Chan and Katarina Srebotnik 6-3 6-2 on Monday.
MORE: All the latest scores and results
It was the elder Chan sister who gained the better of her lil’ sis out on Margaret Court Arena to book a quarterfinal clash with fifth seeds Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic.
After sealing the result, Latisha made it clear any sibling rivalry would be confined to the match.
"We were playing full-time together for two, three years, so playing against her was really tough," Latisha said.
"We’re sharing a room, and a bathroom, and last night we ate together. But we had to be professional out of respect for each other, the other players and the crowd.
“I hope my sister doesn’t hate me after this. We grew up together and our coach is our dad, so it’s basically the family business – I think he was in the player lounge watching on TV with some popcorn."
MORE: Full women’s doubles draw
Babos and Mladenovic overcame a slow start to book their place in the last eight when they downed Viktorija Golubic and Nina Stojanovic 7-5 6-2.
In a first set which featured seven breaks of serve, the Hungarian-French pair recovered from 1-4 down before claiming 12 of the last 15 games against the Swiss-Serbian partnership.
Second-seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina ground out a tough 7-6(2) 6-7(4) 6-2 result over Czechs Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova. The Wimbledon 2017 champions and 2016 Olympic gold medalists will face No.6 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu for a semifinal berth. The Canadian-Chinese pair scored a 7-6(6) 6-1 result over Shuko Aoyama and Zhaoxuan Yang.
Meanwhile, top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo are through to the men’s doubles quarterfinals after a come-from-behind victory over Rajeev Ram and Divij Sharan.
After levelling at a set apiece, the Wimbledon 2017 champions scored the crucial break in the deciding set on Sharan’s serve when Kubot ripped an off-forehand return for 4-3.
Two games later, the Pole served out the 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4 result. The Polish-Brazilian pair will meet the unseeded Ben Mclachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff for a place in the semifinals. The Japanese-German duo downed Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 7-6(5).
Kubot has tasted success before at Melbourne Park having won the title with Swede Robert Lindstedt in 2014.
“I have great memories from 2014. Trying to come back with this,” Kubot said. “Every match is different and we’re looking forward to another match and very happy to be through with this one.”
Melo, who had previously won Roland Garros 2015 with Ivan Dodig, was relishing career-best form alongside Kubot. Together they won the Sydney International on the eve of the Australian Open, their seventh title in the past 11 months.
“We are completely different but we have the same point of view. He’s a great guy and he brings a lot to the table,” Melo said. “He completes my game, he’s a very nice guy, I’m happy to be playing with him as I’m playing my best tennis right now so I hope we continue for a long time together.”
Earlier, Marcus Daniell and Dominic Inglot eased through to the quarterfinals with a 6-4 6-3 win over fellow unseeded pair Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasikevski. The Kiwi-British duo will meet No.7 seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic for a place in the semifinals, after the Austrian-Croatian pair took down 10th seeds Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3.