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Day nine of the Australian Open saw five Aussies move into the semi-final stages on the doubles court.
In front of a boisterous crowd on Kia Arena, Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis claimed another major scalp, taking down No. 6 seeds Michael Venus and Tim Puetz 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours and 15 minutes to advance to the men's doubles semifinals.
"It's tough. These guys are really good. Everyone we play now, everyone we have played since we started really good opponents. We're stoked with this win. We came big in the big points. And, yeah, obviously the guys are experienced veterans but we're going to keep playing how we play, enjoy it, and have fun, and use the crowd," Kokkinakis said in their post-match press conference.
'The Special K's' certainly harnessed the energy from the raucous crowd at Kia Arena today to steer their way to victory.
"Yeah, I think this Australian Open I think with everything the people have gone through, they just are just so happy to see Aussies have success. Demon in the fourth round, us kind of carrying the flag in doubles a little bit," Kyrgios said.
"This Oz Open, honestly, I think for us it's more about the people, playing for them is more important than our doubles success. We haven't drawn up any goals of what we want to achieve this year in doubles. I just want to play and give the people of Australia and the Australian Open a show and genuinely try and grow the sport of tennis. That's why I'm playing. I know Thanasi is just enjoying it. This is the most fun we've ever had on the court," Kyrgios stated.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis will now face No. 3 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina for a spot in the final, after the seeded pair took out No. 5 seeds Australian John Peers and Slovakian Filip Polasek 7-6(5), 6-4.
Over on Margaret Court Arena, another Australian duo booked their spot in a semi-final.
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Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler collected another majorly impressive result, taking down nine-time grand slam champion duo of India's Sania Mirza and American Rajeev Ram 6-4, 7-6(5) to advance to the semis of the mixed doubles.
"I don't think honestly we expected anything. It's been fun couple days. Hopefully we can continue. Yeah, didn't expect that to say the least," Fourlis said in their post-match press conference.
"I was just hoping we had some fun, honestly. As long as we have fun, sort of the main thing. Now that we've been winning, it's like... I don't know," Kubler said.
The pair praised one another when reflecting on their remarkable run so far.
"I think it's because Jaimee is super clutch. Every time we seem to be down, comes up pretty big. That's what I would honestly say," Kubler exclaimed.
"He's serving pretty well. I think we complement each other both from the back and at net. I think it's just been fun taking it point by point. Don't really have any expectations, yeah," Fourlis stated.
The Aussie pair will now face Czech Republic's Lucie Hradecka and Ecuadorian Gonzalo Escobar for a spot in the final.
Also advancing to the mixed doubles semi-final was Australian John Peers and his Chinese partner Shuai Zhang.
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Peers and Zhang took down the Japanese No. 8 seeds Ben McLachlan and Ena Shibahara 6-4, 6-4 in 69 minutes.
"We played another good level match out there. Took our chances early in each set and got the break and then consolidated all the way through which was good. We're having a lot of fun out there, playing some good tennis and enjoying the entertainment," Peers said in their post-match press conference.
The pair will now come up against No. 5 seeds Kristina Mladenovic of France and Ivan Dodig of Croatia as they do battle for a spot in the final.
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