The fairytale continues for Max Purcell and Luke Saville. The wildcard pairing is now just a win away from becoming unlikely local heroes after stunning No.4 seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek 6-7(7) 6-3 6-4 on Thursday to make the men’s doubles final.
“It's been a bit of a dream for the past couple of weeks now,” said Saville. “Max and I have performed on the challenger circuit and never really had a real crack at a Grand Slam, and now we're sitting in a final. We're just thrilled.”
MORE: All the results from Day 11 in Melbourne
The Purcell and Saville story is quite a remarkable one. At the start of 2019, they were both ranked well outside the world’s top 100 doubles players before embarking on a sensational run of form on the lower-level challenger tour which saw them make nine finals, winning seven.
The gulf from challengers to Grand Slams is usually a vast one, but the Aussie duo have straddled it with ease. Having knocked out both the No.8 and No.4 seeds on their way to the final, they are now within touching distance of becoming the first all-Australian pairing to win the title in 23 years since the legendary Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge.
“Nothing really beats the finals of a Grand Slam,” said Purcell. “We're playing great, we're connecting, I think we're getting better every match, and we're just enjoying you guys coming out and supporting us. We really feel it out here.”
Meanwhile, while Jamie Murray may be Britain’s best-known doubles player, he is set to be usurped as British No.1 in the rankings by the comparatively little-known Joe Salisbury.
The 27-year-old, a product of the US collegiate system, has been steadily improving over the past couple of years alongside the lanky American Rajeev Ram. The pair made the semifinals of Wimbledon 2018, qualified for the ATP Finals last November, and have now reached their first Slam final together after defeating Kazakhstan’s Alex Bublik and Mikhail Kukushkin 4-6 6-3 6-4 on Thursday morning.
“It’s almost a bit of a relief to get through that,” said Salisbury, who will now move into the world’s top 10, overtaking Murray, following the tournament.
“Even though it was our first Grand Slam semifinal together, we were probably favourites going into the match and it wasn't the highest quality tennis throughout. It was a bit up and down, we came from a set down, and then break down in the third.
“We had to fight hard. We weren't playing our best, but we stayed together as a team, supported each other, hung in there until the end.”