TENNIS: Two-time Grand Slam singles champion Ash Barty and Grand Slam doubles champion John Peers have advanced to the mixed doubles semifinals, the first Australian duo to do so in Olympic history.
The pair knocked out second seeds Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari of Greece this evening, 6-4 4-6 [10-6].
Barty and Peers took the first set before the Greek team forced the match into a super tiebreaker.
“I thought we did a great job on our service games to create plenty of chances. It was one that was a bit different in which the server dominated both sets,” Peers said after the match.
“We just composed ourselves, took care of our serves in the tie-break and made a couple more returns and that was pretty much the difference tonight.”
The Australians next face No.4 seeds Andrey Rublev and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of the Russian Olympic Committee in the semifinals on Friday.
“They’ll be a tough match-up again. It’s going to come down to whether we can produce another good level and enjoy the match and see what we can execute at the right times and take care of our serves,” Peers added.
"There’s no reason we can’t have another good day.”
Barty is excited to still be in the hunt for a medal.
“I absolutely enjoyed it. This is the most fun, we are still in the hunt for a medal for Australia. We hope to be making our family in Australia proud,” Barty said.
“It’s exciting, that’s why we came here. The whole tennis team, the whole Team Australia, that’s why we came here to try and win medals for our country.
"To now be in that position where we get to keep having fun is a lot of fun. I’m super proud of our week so far. But we’re certainly not done yet. We’re enjoying every step of the way.”
The winners of each mixed doubles semifinal will play for the gold medal on Sunday while the losers will play off for a bronze medal on Saturday.
The Australians will play the second match on court 1 on Friday. Play begins at 3pm local time.
Mixed doubles was first introduced to the Olympic tennis schedule in London 2012.
Results
Mixed doubles quarterfinals
QF Ash Barty (AUS) / John Peers (AUS) d [2] Maria Sakkari (GRE) / Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 6-4 4-6 [10-6]
Schedule of play – Friday 30 July 2021
Mixed doubles semifinals
SF Ash Barty (AUS) / John Peers (AUS) v [4] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (ROC) / Andrey Rublev (ROC) – second match on court 1
Harriet Rendle
