Daniell/Venus Upset Cabal/Farah In Tokyo
New Zealand pair Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus sprung a surprise on Wednesday at the Tokyo Olympics as they upset third-seeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 to reach the semi-finals.
Daniell and Venus won 82 per cent (36/44) of their first-service points in the match to advance in one hour and 36 minutes. Cabal and Farah have claimed two tour-level titles this season at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
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The New Zealanders will next face Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig after the Croatians battled back to overcome British team Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury 4-6, 7-6(2), 10-7. Cilic and Dodig rallied from a set and a break down, hitting seven winners, to book their spot in the last four.
Murray was aiming to win a fourth Olympic medal this week, having claimed gold in the 2012 and 2016 singles event along with a silver in the 2012 mixed doubles (w/Robson).
Top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic also advanced with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Japanese pair Ben McLachlan and Kei Nishikori. The Croatians have won eight tour-level titles this year, including three ATP Masters 1000s and Wimbledon. They will next meet either Americans Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren or Germans Jan-Lennard Struff and Alexander Zverev.
In the mixed doubles, Australians Ashleigh Barty and John Peers produced a dominant display to defeat Argentine duo Nadia Podoroska and Horacio Zeballos 6-1, 7-6(3) and reach the quarter-finals.
Stefanos Tsitsipas got over his singles disappointment by teaming with Maria Sakkari to beat Canadian tandem Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-4. The ROC's Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev also moved through with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against French pair Kristina Mladenovic and Nicolas Mahut.