American wild cards Harrison/King advance to Indian Wells doubles SFs

The all-American wild card duo of Christian Harrison and Evan King continued its run at the BNP Paribas Open Wednesday with a 7-6(4), 6-3 quarter-final win against seventh-seeded Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

After beating reigning Olympic doubles gold medalists Matthew Ebden and John Peers 11-9 in a Match Tie-break on Tuesday, the Americans enjoyed a more straightforward victory in the quarters. Propelled by five aces and an 82 per cent win rate on first serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats, Harrison/King set up a semi-final showdown with top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic on Friday.

Entering Indian Wells at respective career highs of No. 42 and No. 40 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings, Harrison and King are up to No. 36 and No. 30 this week in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Rankings.

Arevalo and Pavic booked their semi-final place with a 7-6(6), 6-4 win against Italians Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Sonego. The top seeds have not dropped a set in their three victories this week.

The opposite semi-final will see Sebastian Korda and Jordan Thompson take on Fernando Romboli and John-Patrick Smith. Korda and Thompson, who saved a match point in their second-round win against eight-seeded Britons Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski, earned a 6-4, 6-4 result Wednesday against Jiri Lehecka and Alejandro Tabilo. Romboli and Smith advanced with a dramatic 7-6(5), 3-6, 10-8 win over Yuki Bhambri and Andre Goransson.