Chardy/Martin Seal SF Spot At Australian Open
Chardy/Martin Seal SF Spot At Australian Open
Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin reached their first Grand Slam semi-final as a team Tuesday when they upset third seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(4) at the Australian Open.
The Frenchmen had not dropped a set en route to the quarter-finals and played with confidence against the 2022 Roland Garros champions, firing in the big moments as they converted three of their four break point chances to advance after one hour and 58 minutes.
Chardy and Martin are making their fourth appearance as a team in Melbourne, with their best result before this year being a third-round run in 2018.
Their semi-final opponents will be Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski, who defeated Frenchmen Benjamin Bonzi and Arthur Rinderknech 6-1, 6-4 earlier on Tuesday.
The Monegasque-Polish pairing used an early break to command both sets, and they maintained their advantage by saving all three break points against them.
It was the first straight-sets victory of the tournament for Nys and Zielinksi, who battled back from a set down to win each of their first three matches. The team has knocked off two seeds on the way to the semis, including second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the third round.
The remaining two doubles quarter-finals are set for Wednesday in Melbourne. Top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski face Aussie wild cards Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler, while eight seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos meet 14th seeds Andreas Mies and John Peers.