New York, USA, 26 August 2020 | tennis.com.au

Storm Sanders and Ellen Perez have advanced to the women’s doubles quarterfinals at the Western & Southern Open in New York.

The left-handed Aussie duo scored a 6-3 4-6 [10-7] victory against American Hayley Carter and Brazilian Luisa Stefani in second-round action today. It snapped a five-match winning streak for their opponents, who had won a WTA title in Lexington earlier this month.

It also marks a career-best result for both 26-year-old Sanders and 24-year-old Perez at a WTA Premier 5 event. They will now face third seeds Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Demi Schuurs from the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.

> GETTING TO KNOW: Storm Sanders

Australian Alex de Minaur will also feature in doubles quarterfinal action tomorrow. The 21-year-old and his Spanish partner Pablo Carreno Busta play eighth seeds Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Nikola Mektic of Croatia.

In Italy, world No.102-ranked Australian Alexei Popyrin has made a winning return to the tour.

The 21-year-old has opted not to travel to America, so is making his comeback at an ATP Challenger event in Trieste.

The top-seeded Popyrin recorded an opening-round win against France’s Quentin Halys 6-4 7-6(3) overnight. He plays Italian wildcard and Australian Open 2019 boys’ singles champion Lorenzo Musetti next.