Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury overcame Christopher Eubanks and Mackenzie McDonald 6-2, 7-6(5) at the US Open on Sunday to move two wins away from a second straight Grand Slam doubles crown.
The reigning Australian Open champions struck 30 winners and won 85 per cent of first-serve points (39/46) to improve to 9-0 in Grand Slam play this year. Ram and Salisbury are through to their fourth semi-final in five events this year, having also reached the last four at the Adelaide International in January and last week’s Western & Southern Open.
After rallying from 2-5 down in the second set to book their spot in the semi-finals, Ram and Salisbury will face eighth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic for a place in the championship match.
Koolhof and Mektic rallied from 4/6 down in the first-set tie-break to defeat Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 7-6(6), 6-3 in one hour and 39 minutes. The eighth seeds improve to 5-1 since the resumption of the ATP Tour. At last week’s Western & Southern Open, Koolhof and Mektic fell at the quarter-final stage to eventual champions Pablo Carreno Busta and Alex de Minaur.
Ram and Salisbury lead Koolhof and Mektic 1-0 in their ATP Head2Head series. The American-British tandem defeated Koolhof and Mektic in straight sets en route to the Adelaide semi-finals in January.