Michael Venus will go head-to-head with Nick Kyrgios in the quarterfinals of the doubles at the Australian Open.
The sixth seeds Venus and his German partner Tim Puetz received a walkover win on Sunday over Australian wildcards Jason Kubler and Chris O’Connell after O’Connell injured his hip during his third-round singles loss on Saturday and had to withdraw.
Later on Sunday Kyrgios and his Australian partner Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated Ariel Behar from Uruguay and Ecuador’s Gonzalo Escobar 6-4 4-6 6-4 on John Cain Arena.
Kyrgios has previously thrived in singles on that court and he and Kokkinakis have relished their hectic doubles crowds.
“You can’t not get up for matches like this,” Kokkinakis said.
The duo next play sixth seeds Tim Puetz and Michael Venus as they eye adding a senior doubles major to their 2013 Wimbledon junior doubles crown.
“We’re winning it,” Kyrgios said.
“I definitely think we’ve got a good shot of winning this.
“We’re locked in.”
But Venus and Puetz have achieved some fantastic results since forming a combination after the French Open and ended 2021 by winning the Paris Masters 1000 title together.
They are both in the top 20 in the ATP doubles rankings with Venus 15th and Puetz 18th and they can expect to climb higher following a run to the quarter-finals at least.
However, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, who are known as the Special K’s, will have huge home-crowd support behind them and with Kyrgios involved there is also the potential for fireworks.
On Friday Kyrgios claimed the coach and trainer of Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic threatened to fight him after he and Thanasi Kokkinakis dumped the top seeds from the Australian Open doubles.
“Just letting you know after yesterday’s chop fest in doubles my opponents coach and trainer proceeded to threaten to fight in the players gym,” Kyrgios said on Twitter.
The quarterfinal match won’t be played until at least Tuesday.
On Monday Venus teams up again with compatriot Erin Routliffe for their match in the second round of the mixed doubles.
The Kiwi team face the No 4 seeds, Puetz and Alexa Guarachi from Chile in the fourth match on court three.
