The sixth-seeded pair of Raven Klaasen, from King William’s Town, and his New Zealand doubles partner, Michael Venus, eased through to the Australian Open quarterfinal stages.
They defeated Marcelo Demoliner (Brazil) and Frederick Nielsen (Denmark) 6-3, 6-1 on Sunday.
They will face Leonardo Mayer and Joao Sousa from Argentina and Portugal respectively in the last eight stages.
Klaasen’s best finish at the doubles in Melbourne Park was the runner-up place in 2014, playing alongside Eric Butorac.
After their third round victory on Saturday, he said: “I think we are getting sharper as the week goes, and hopefully we can build on this. Hopefully we can push to get deep into the second week this time around.”
In the Junior Australian Open, Kholo Montsi and Joubert Klopper also continued to raise the South African flag high after progressing through to the second round stages of their doubles match, defeating the Great Britain duo of James Story and Harry Wendelken 6-1. 6-4 (10-6), in a thrilling tie on Sunday.
The two teenage prodigies suffered defeats in their first round singles matches, with Montsi fighting bravely before eventually going down 3-6, 7-5 to Russian Alexandr Benda.
Klopper had suffered his first round defeat on Saturday, going down 6-1, 6-4 to Wojciech Marek from Poland.
Having both progressed through to their first Grand Slam, the teen duo will treasure this experience and tournament resilience that was obvious for all to see. – DDC..