Aussies set to clash in Sydney Tennis Classic doubles semifinals

All-Australian combination Alexei Popyrin and Matt Reid have advanced to the doubles semifinals at this week's ATP 250 tournament in Sydney.

Thursday 13 January 2022
Leigh Rogers
Sydney, Australia
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 11: Alexei Popyrin of Australia plays a shot in his match against Pedro Martinez of Spain during day three of the Sydney Tennis Classic at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre on January 11, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

At least one Australian player is guaranteed to advance to the Sydney Tennis Classic men's doubles final.

All-Aussie combination Alexei Popyrin and Matt Reid eliminated two seeded teams to advance to the semifinals today.

They won a rain-delayed second-round match against eighth seeds Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan and Croatia's Franko Skugor this morning.

Popyrin and Reid were then back in action at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre this evening, where they upset second seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-6(4) 3-6 [10-7]. The Colombian team are former world No.1s and have won two Grand Slam titles together.

The Aussie duo now face third seeds John Peers and Filip Polasek in the semifinals.

Peers, Australia's top-ranked doubles player at world No.13, and world No.9 Polasek survived a scare in their quarterfinal with Kazakhstan's Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi this evening.

The No.3 seeds saved four match points in a 3-6 6-3 [14-12] victory.

The 33-year-old Peers is aiming to reach a first tour-level final on home soil since a runner-up finish at Australian Open 2019.

While 31-year-old Reid is hoping to progress to a second career ATP doubles final, and first since 2017.

For 22-year-old Popyrin, this effort matches his career-best doubles result at ATP-level. He also made a semifinal appearance alongside Reid in Atlanta last July.

Sydney Tennis Classic

TODAY'S RESULTS
Men's doubles, second round
Alexei Popyrin (AUS)/Matt Reid (AUS) d [8] Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/Franko Skugor (CRO) 6-3 6-1

Men's doubles, quarterfinals
[3] John Peers (AUS)/Filip Polasek (SVK) d Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) 3-6 6-3 [14-12]
Alexei Popyrin (AUS)/Matt Reid (AUS) d [2] Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/Robert Farah (COL) 7-6(4) 3-6 [10-7]

Women's doubles, quarterfinals
[2] Shuko Aoyama (JPN)/Ena Shibahara (JPN) d Astra Sharma (AUS)/Aranxta Rus (NED) 6-4 6-0

COMING UP
Men's doubles, semifinals
[3] John Peers (AUS)/Filip Polasek (SVK) v Alexei Popyrin (AUS)/Matt Reid (AUS)

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