Defending champion Joe Salisbury claims he got stronger as the match wore on after overcoming fellow Brit Jamie Murray in the Australian Open men’s doubles semi-finals.
Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram are now just one match away from defending the title they so spectacularly won at Melbourne Park 12 months ago after triumphing 6-4, 7-6.
Three-time Olympian Murray and his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares had been previously undefeated since reforming their partnership at the start of the year but could not live with the first-serve dominance of their opponents.
Salisbury and Ram won 81 per cent of first serve points, compared to just 64 per cent for the British-Brazilian duo, as they sped to victory in an hour and 45 minutes - winning the second-set tiebreak 7-2.
The fifth seeds will now face ninth-seeded pair Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek in Sunday’s final, as Salisbury was pleased with the resilience shown by him and Ram in tough conditions.
"I think it just took us a little bit of time to get into the match," said Salisbury. "The conditions were a bit different today. It was obviously very hot, the court is pretty lively.
"We just improved throughout the match. I think we struggled a little bit on return games in the first set, but we were serving well, so we knew if we stuck in there and played a good tie-break we could do it."
Salisbury had a chance to reach a second final in Melbourne but lost his mixed doubles semi-final alongside America’s Desirae Krawczyk later in the day.
The pair were beaten 7-5, 5-7, 10-8 in an enthralling encounter by home favourites Sam Stosur and Matt Ebden.