Joe Salisbury is through to Australian Open men’s doubles final as defending champion beats Jamie Murray in the Battle of Britain – but loses mixed doubles semi-final shortly afterwards
- Joe Salisbury came out on top against Jamie Murray in the battle of the Brits
- Salisbury and his partner Rajeev Ram beat Murray and Bruno Soares in their semi
- The defending men’s doubles champions won in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)
- But, Salisbury lost his mixed doubles semi-final with partner Desirae Krawczyk
- The pair lost to Australian duo Samantha Stosur and Matthew Ebden
Britain’s Joe Salisbury celebrated a victory over countryman Jamie Murray in advancing to the men’s doubles final at the Australian Open.
Salisbury and his American partner Rajeev Ram defeated Murray and Brazil‘s Bruno Soares 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) 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.
Joe Salisbury has reached a second-straight Australian Open men’s final after victory on Friday
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% 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.
Salisbury and Ram are the defending champions – having won the title in 2020 in straight sets against wildcards Australian duo Max Purcell and Luke Saville.
However, it wasn’t to be for Salisbury just hours later in the mixed doubles semi-finals as he and his American partner Desirae Krawczyk lost in three sets to Samantha Stosur and Matthew Ebden.
After losing the first set 7-5, Salisbury and Krawczyk battled back to win the second by the same scoreline to produce a champions tie-break. However, they were unable to carry the momentum into this set as they lost 10-8 to the Australian wildcard duo.
Stosur and Ebden will face Ram and his partner Barbora Krejcikova in the showpiece. Krejcikova is the defending champion having won last year’s title with Nikola Mektic.