Fourth seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers reached their first Grand Slam semi-final together on Wednesday night at the Australian Open as they defeated Sam Groth and Chris Guccione 7-5, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.
Kontinen and Peers, who finished 2016 with back-to-back titles at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris and the ATP Finals in London, are bidding to win their first major title. The Finnish/Australian duo has dropped only one set on their route through to the semi-finals, beating Groth and Guccione in 64 minutes with only nine points dropped on serve.
Watch: Kontinen/Peers Visit St. Kilda Beach
Peers is looking to reach his third Grand Slam final, having finished runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open with Jamie Murray in 2015. He and Kontinen go on to face Australian wild cards Marc Polmans and Andrew Whittington, who shocked top seeds and 2015 runners-up Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-4.
In the on-court interview on Margaret Court Arena, the 19-year-old Polmans said, "I’m extremely overwhelmed to be honest. At the start of the week I really didn’t think we’d be in the semi-final of a Grand Slam. To do it in front of my friends and family on Margaret Court Arena is unbelievable.”
Polmans and Whittington have gone on a giant-killing run at Melbourne Park, beating eighth seeds Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the second round and former No. 1 duo Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the third round.