Retiring Australian Sam Groth has been farewelled at Margaret Court Arena after he and partner Lleyton Hewitt lost their doubles quarterfinal on Wednesday evening.
The two favourite sons of Australian tennis know a thing or two about a Grand Slam doubles event. Groth made the quarterfinal stage here last year (with Chris Guccione) and has also been a semifinalist at Roland Garros, while Hewitt earned himself a US Open title in 2000 (with Max Mirnyi).
But it was a different and more emotional stage at Australian Open 2018, with Hewitt coming out of retirement to play, and Groth heading into it. Add to that a parochial and adoring crowd at Margaret Court Arena, one that was becoming more raucous as the day faded.
In the end, the Aussies were gallant, but the Columbian duo of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah – previously semifinalists at the French Open themselves – were much too solid, defeating the Aussie pair 6-4 7-5.
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Unable to hold back the tears after the last match of his career, Groth thanked his team, his fiancée Britt, his family and supporters before Hewitt took over.
“Playing in front of big crowds on home courts like this is what you really miss and the adrenaline rush we get from coming out and putting on a show, when you retire, that’s the biggest thing,” he said.
“For us, we had a great tournament, we didn’t come into it with a lot of expectations. We’ve played some big matches together, that was one of the main reasons I came back to play. I love playing Davis Cup with this fella, he wears his heart on his sleeve, he would do anything for the green and gold, and for me to come out and play alongside him in his last event was pretty special.”
Admittedly, Groth started a little nervously, surrendering his booming serve early and giving the Columbians enough room to close out the first set – despite Hewitt turning back the clock to put them under a ton of pressure on return.
The match stayed very tight through the second set, but again Groth proved vulnerable, double-faulting to give up his serve at a critical stage, allowing Cabal and Farah to close it out the next game.
“It was such a great atmosphere out here, it felt like Davis Cup,” Cabal said. “We knew it was going to be a hard match. Sam has a big serve and Lleyton was just returning unreal. It’s just an honour to be out here in Sam’s last match, and against a champion like Lleyton, seriously, we really enjoyed it.”
Earlier, Olivier Marach and Mate Pavic proved they are without doubt the hot hands on the doubles tour thus far in 2018. After winning consecutive titles in Doha and Auckland they continued their unbeaten run this fortnight.
It was far from a straightforward progression to the semifinals though, with the unseeded Kiwi/Brit combo of Marcus Daniell and Dom Inglot engaging the No.7 seeds in a two hour and 40 minute battle which ended in a 6-4 6-7(10) 7-6(5) victory.
“It was a tough match,” Pavic said. “We had a couple of match points in the second set and we could have finished it there, but we had to get it back in the third, so we’re really happy now.”
“We have a lot of matches into us now,” added Marach. “We played great the last three weeks in the first two tournaments of the year and now we continue rolling here.”
They will now face surprise semifinalists Ben McLachlan of Japan and Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, who on Tuesday took care of doubles co-world No.1’s Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.
Meanwhile, Cabal and Farah will take on American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan, who once again look in ominous form here in Melbourne.