Ellen Perez becomes the first Australian in six years to advance to a women’s doubles semifinal at Roland Garros.
Paris, France, 6 June 2023 | Leigh Rogers
Ellen Perez and American partner Nicole Melichar-Martinez have advanced to the women’s doubles semifinals at Roland Garros.
The sixth seeds continued their impressive march through the draw with a 7-5 6-3 quarterfinal victory against Czech Marie Bouzkova and Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo in Paris today.
Perez and Melichar-Martinez’s aggressive play was rewarded in the one-hour and 40-minute encounter at Court Suzanne-Lenglen. They tallied 40 winners, doubling their opponent’s 20.
This extends Perez’s career-best run in Paris, bettering her previous best result of a second-round appearance in 2021.
It matches the 27-year-old’s career-best result at Grand Slam level too, having also made the US Open semifinals last year alongside Melichar-Martinez.
The duo contested their first Grand Slam tournament as a team at last year’s Roland Garros, where they lost in the opening round. Since then, they have won 12 of their past 15 Grand Slam matches.
With this effort, world No.15 Perez becomes the 21st Australian to advance to a Roland Garros women’s doubles semifinal in the Open era.
Only five Australian women have reached this stage in the past two decades, with Ash Barty and Casey Dellacqua the last to so in 2017.
Perez is hoping to become the first Australian to win a Roland Garros women’s doubles title since Alicia Molik in 2007.
But with two more wins required to achieve that feat, her focus is on the upcoming semifinals.
Perez and Melichar-Martinez’s semifinal opponents are yet to be decided. They’ll play either the No.15 seeds, Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova, or the unseeded combination of Hsieh Su-Wei and Wang Xinyu.
Aussies in action – Roland Garros
RESULTS
Women’s doubles, quarterfinals
[6] Ellen Perez (AUS)/Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) d Marie Bouzkova (CZE)/Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 7-5 6-3
COMING UP
Women’s doubles, semifinals
[6] Ellen Perez (AUS)/Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) v TBC
> VIEW: Roland Garros 2023 women’s doubles draw
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