Aussies Storm Sanders and Ellen Perez advanced to the women’s doubles quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Masters.
The pair won 6-3 4-6 (10-7) over American Hayley Carter and Brazilian Luisa Stefani, a career-best result for 26-year-old Sanders and 24-year-old Perez, who will now face third seeds Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Demi Schuurs from the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
Alex de Minaur will also feature in doubles quarterfinal action. The 21-year-old and his Spanish partner Pablo Carreno Busta play eighth seeds Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Nikola Mektic of Croatia.
Meanwhile, in Italy, world No.102-ranked Australian Alexei Popyrin made a winning return to the tour.
Popyrin chose not to travel to New York, but made his comeback at an ATP Challenger event in Trieste and won an opening-round match against France’s Quentin Halys 6-4 7-6(3).
