Machac/Zhang race into Australian Open SFs

Could a scratch pairing of singles stars be set for doubles success at the Australian Open?

Tomas Machac and Zhang Zhizhen continued their dream run at the hard-court major on Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-1 quarter-final triumph against Ariel Behar and Adam Pavlasek. The Czech-Chinese duo needed just an hour to power to victory inside Margaret Court Arena, where it converted four of 10 break points it earned, according to Infosys Stats.

Machac and Zhang, the No. 75 and No. 54 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in singles, respectively, had never played together and had just three tour-level doubles wins between them prior to this fortnight at Melbourne Park. They have dropped just one set across four matches so far, however, and defeated two seeded teams including third seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

Now the first pair into the semi-finals, Machac and Zhang will take on second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden or sixth seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni next in Melbourne.