Dom Inglot has strived and strived for the perfect men’s doubles bond but finally, with a first Grand Slam quarter-final in two years on the horizon, he just might have found it.
The Rio 2016 Olympian has played with 19 different partners over the past two seasons alone, disruption which has had its impact on the court in major competitions.
But with New Zealander Marcus Daniell a regular face on his side of the net, Inglot has rediscovered his consistency as his impressive Australian Open continued overnight.
The Londoner reached the last eight for the third time in his career with another impressive win alongside Daniell, easing past Chile’s Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski of Belarus 6-4 6-3 in Melbourne.
One more win stands in the way of Inglot and a Slam career-best – he reached the US Open semi-final in 2015 – though seventh seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic look set to be the toughest test of the run so far. “I’m really happy. I’ve had a few quarter-finals here so hopefully we can make this third time lucky in getting to the semis,” said the 31-year-old.
“It has been a tough couple of years. I’m not someone who likes playing with different people each week. I need to feel a bond and feel like we’re working towards something. He’s someone that I think will give it a good go. “Sometimes people chop and change too soon, they think the grass is greener on the other side but sometimes the grass is greener where you water it.
“I think we can put in a good effort, we’ve got a good team that will help us and it’s good to see some quick results coming our way.”
Jamie Murray, who earlier this week missed out in the men’s doubles, is also out of the mixed doubles after he and Latisha Chan lost in the round-of-16 in Melbourne.
Murray was bidding for a third successive Grand Slam victory after lifting the Wimbledon and US Open trophies in 2017, though a 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 defeat to Australians Storm Sanders and Marc Polmans ended those chances prematurely. Sportsbeat 2018