With over 60,000 fans filling Melbourne Park on ‘Super Saturday’ – and many more arriving in the evening – just four Australians progressed in doubles action.
Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans moved into the mixed doubles second round after a thrilling 6-4, 6-7(5), [12-10] victory over Hao-Ching Chan and Santiago Gonzalez [4].
The Aussie wildcards came from 2-7 down in the deciding super tiebreak, saving two match points to overcome the fourth seeds in front of a full-house Kia Arena crowd.
The pair will now face Michael Venus and Aldila Sutjiadi – who also came through a match tiebreak – in the last sixteen, as they bid to become the fourth all-Aussie pair in six years to reach the mixed doubles final.
After her career-best singles campaign ended in the early hours of the morning, Storm Hunter was back on court, partnering Katerina Siniakova as the third seeds.
The pair took down fellow Australians Destanee Aiava and Madison Inglis, coming from a set behind to triumph 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 on 1573 Arena.
After bowing out in women’s doubles, Ellen Perez teamed up with Jean-Julien Rojer to score a come-from-behind victory on Court 6.
The duo saved a match point in the super tiebreak to clinch a 6-7(6), 7-6(4), [12-10] victory.
Earlier in the day, defending champions Jason Kubler and Rinky Hijikata bowed out in three sets to Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer.
The 2023 champions rallied back to force a decider on Court 3, before ultimately suffering a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 defeat.
After both exiting the singles draw to top-16 ranked opponents, Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson were unable to overcome seventh seeds Jan Zielinski and Hugo Nys, falling 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1.
Poland’s Zielinski later teamed up with Su-Wei Hsieh in the mixed competition and toppled John Peers and Kim Birrell 6-2, 6-2.
John-Patrick Smith and German partner Andreas Mies fell 6-4, 6-4 at the hands of fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.
It is the fourth time Smith has reached the Australian Open men’s doubles second round in thirteen appearances.
Contesting their fifth Australian Open as a mixed pair, Luke, and Daria Saville went down 6-3, 6-3 to Italians Liudmila Samsonova and Andrea Vavassori on Court 13.
Heading into day eight of the event, the following Aussies still remain across the three doubles draws:
Matt Ebden / Rohan Bopanna [2] – Men’s third round.
Storm Hunter / Katerina Siniakova [3] – Women’s third round.
Jaimee Fourlis / Andrew Harris [WC] – Mixed second round.
Olivia Gadecki / Marc Polmans [WC] – Mixed second round.
Ellen Perez / Jean-Julien Rojer [8] – Mixed second round.
Storm Hunter / Matt Ebden [1] – Mixed first round.