Storm Hunter wins as all-Aussie pairs knocked out of Open doubles

World No. 1 doubles player Storm Hunter has kept her bid for a first grand slam title alive but two Aussie pairs made shock early exits from the men’s doubles on Saturday.

Hunter and Czech partner Katerina Siniakova overcame a first-set scare to beat wildcard Aussie pair Maddison Inglis and Destanee Aiava 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 as the nation’s hopes of an Australian Open three-peat in the men’s doubles were extinguished in a single afternoon.

Defending champions Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to German pair Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfler, before Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell were sent packing in the second round by seventh seeds Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski after they crumbled to a 6-1 third-set defeat.

Hijikata had played down the chances of him and Kubler repeating last year’s feats but backed Purcell and Thompson to continue the dramatic revival of Australian men’s doubles ignited by Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis’ thrilling run to the 2022 title.

Queenslander John-Patrick Smith also exited the doubles draw on Saturday with German partner Andreas Mies, leaving veteran Matt Ebden as the lone Australian with a title chance.

Smith and Miers ousted first-time pair Thanasi Kokkinakis and Alexei Popyrin in three sets on Friday night but succumbed to the experienced fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the second round.

Ebden and 43-year-old Indian doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna will play their third-round match on Sunday.

Hunter and former doubles No. 1 Katerina Siniakova made a rusty start to their new partnership after the Aussie left-hander parted ways with Belgian player Elise Mertens following the ATP World Tour Finals in November.

She reached the semi-finals of that competition and was also runner-up at Wimbledon with Mertens.

After a nailbiting third-round singles defeat on Friday night, Hunter is also a title chance in the mixed doubles with Ebden as the top seeds, while wildcard entrants Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans advanced to the second round after a thrilling 12-10 match tie-break victory over fourth seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Santiago Gonzalez.

Hunter and Siniakova will face the Russian pairing of fourth-round singles bolter Anna Kalinskaya and Ekaterina Alexandrova on Monday.