Joe Salisbury and his American partner Rajeev Ram are the defending Australian Open champions; they are on course to face Jamie Murray and Brazilian Bruno Soares in the semi-finals; Alfie Hewett reached his first Australian Open final in wheelchair singles
Monday 15 February 2021 08:28, UK
British duo Joe Salisbury and Jamie Murray stayed on course to meet in the semi-finals of the men's doubles at the Australian Open.
Salisbury and his American partner Rajeev Ram are the defending champions and the pair, who won their first Grand Slam title a year ago, squeezed through two tie-break sets against Australia's John Peers and Michael Venus of New Zealand 7-6 (4) 7-6 (4).
In the last eight, Salisbury and Ram will face Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Philipp Oswald of Austria.
Murray has reunited with Brazilian Bruno Soares, with whom he lifted the trophy in Melbourne five years ago, and the pair are unbeaten so far after winning an ATP Tour title last week.
They lost the first set against Italian Simone Bolelli and Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina but fought back to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-4.
Heather Watson missed the chance to reach the women's doubles quarter-finals with Canadian partner Leylah Fernandez.
Watson, who reached the second round of the singles last week, and Fernandez were beaten 6-3 6-2 by Canada's Sharon Fichman and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico.
Meanwhile, Alfie Hewett reached his first Australian Open final in wheelchair singles after a 6-3 6-4 victory over top seed Shingo Kunieda.
The 23-year-old is going for his fifth Grand Slam singles title having won two titles each at the French Open and US Open.
There will be no all-British final, though, after Gordon Reid lost 4-6 7-5 6-3 to Joachim Gerard in the other semi-final.
Reid and Hewett will go for a fifth consecutive slam title in doubles, with the pair battling to a 6-1 4-6 10-7 victory over Kunieda and Gustavo Fernandez.
At the Phillip Island Trophy, the WTA event taking place alongside the Australian Open, Francesca Jones was beaten 6-1 6-4 by Romania's Patricia Maria Tig in the second round.
Don't forget to follow us on skysports.com/tennis, our Twitter account @skysportstennis & Sky Sports - on the go! Available to download now on - iPhone & iPad and Android
