Britain's Joe Salisbury and his partner Rajeev Ram get the better of Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares to reach the final of the men's doubles at the Australian Open in Melbourne; they will play ninth-seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek in the final on Sunday
Friday 19 February 2021 09:43, UK
Britain's Joe Salisbury celebrated a victory over countryman Jamie Murray in advancing to the men's doubles final at the Australian Open.
Defending champions Salisbury and his American partner Rajeev Ram defeated Murray and Brazil's Bruno Soares 6-4 7-6 (2) at Rod Laver Arena.
The fifth-seeded Salisbury and Ram will play ninth-seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia in Sunday's final, after that pair beat Croatian second seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 4-6 6-4 6-3.
"I think it just took us a little bit of time to get into the match. The conditions were a bit different today. Obviously very hot, the court is pretty lively," Salisbury said in their on-court interview.
"We just improved throughout the match. I think we struggled a little bit on return games in the first set, but we were serving well, so we knew if we stuck in there and played a good tie-break. We just got through it and then we played better in the second set."
Salisbury and Ram needed an hour and 45 minutes to overcome sixth seeds Murray and Soares.
The trans-Atlantic pairing dominated on their first serve, winning 81 per cent of first-serve points compared to just 64 per cent for Murray and Soares, and converted two of three break points whereas their opponents broke only once from two opportunities.
"Really happy to get through that first set. Obviously I think that was the key to the match," Ram said.
"These guys have been playing together and quite well for a while, so we knew we were going to be in for it today. I think we raised our level at the very end of that breaker, which got us over the line."
Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka beat Czech pair Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova 6-2 6-3 to win the Australian Open women's doubles title for their second Grand Slam trophy together.
They celebrated with their signature leap together while holding the trophy.
"We had a tough draw actually in doubles, so we're really happy that we pulled through," said Mertens. "Some days, like today, we just kept on fighting."
Russia's Daria Kasatkina made the most of another opportunity to shine at Melbourne Park by winning the Phillip Island Trophy.
The tournament, a WTA 250 event, was set up to provide players eliminated during the first week of the season-opening major a chance to boost their match fitness following a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival in Australia.
Playing in her first WTA final since winning the 2018 Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Kasatkina rallied from a set down to beat Czech Republic's Marie Bouzkova 4-6 6-2 6-2 in the final.
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