This year’s Sydney Tennis Classic finalists Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini knocked out Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 to reach the quarter finals in the quarter finals at the Australian Open.
The Italian doubles team, who won the Australian Open doubles title in 2015, wasted three break points in the 10-minute opening game. Murray and Soares earned two breaks in the second and sixth games to race out to a 5-1 lead. Bolelli and Fognini saved three break points and pulled back one of the two breaks in the seventh game for 2-5, but Murray and Soares closed out the first set 6-3 on their sixth set point.
Both players went on serve in the second set en route to the tie-break. Fognini and Bolelli saved a match point before closing out the tie-break on their second set point with a backhand winner.
Bolelli and Fognini saved a break point in the second game of the third set before breaking twice in the seventh and ninth games to seal the win. The Italian team backed up their second-round win over second seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo.
The Italians set up a quarter final match against last year’s Australian Open finalists Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis overcame Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar 6-4 4-6 6-4 in the third round. The Aussie team had beaten Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 on Kia Arena.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis earned their first break in the ninth game to take the first set 6-4. Behar and Escobar broke in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Kokkinaks and Kyrgios broke straight back in the seventh game before holding serve to draw level to 4-4. Behar and Escobar sealed the second set 6-4 with their second break in the 10th game.
The home team broke in the fifth game and sealed the third set on the first match point.
“The way Kokkinakis is playing right now, he is obviously very confident after the last month, which is amazing to see. I feel like we are locked in, it’s probably the best doubles we have played together. Another win at the Australian Open, you are not going to take that for granted. I definitely think that we have got a good shot at winning this”, said Kyrgios.
US Open semifinalists John Peers and Filip Polasek cruised past Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies 6-1 6-2. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos won 85% of their first serve points in their 7-5 7-5 win over Pablo Andujar and Pedro Martinez with a break in each set.