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Melbourne, Jan 29 (IANS) Hometown wildcards Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans continued their impressive Australian Open, punching their ticket into the men's doubles final with a three-set 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 semifinal win over Great Britain's Luke Johnson and Poland's Jan Zielinski on Thursday.

Kubler will be bidding for his second Australian Open doubles crown after triumphing with Rinky Hijikata, also as wildcards, in 2023. Polmans, a semifinalist with Andrew Whittington at Melbourne Park in 2017, was the best player on the court on Thursday and will be contesting his first Grand Slam final.

Kubler showed no signs of being hampered by his bandaged left knee, which has undergone multiple operations, as he leapt skyward for a slam-dunk smash to conjure the first break of the match. Two games later, he unleashed back-to-back return winners on the ad side to clinch a break before holding for 5-1. Polmans clinically sealed the set when he held to love.

Kubler and Polmans struggled to find a first serve in the second set, landing just 9 of 23 as the momentum swung. Polmans held serve in a challenging seventh game of the third before the hometown wildcards scrambled to break Johnson the next game. The Aussies sealed victory when Zielinski returned a Kubler serve long, Aus Open reports.

“That’s the great thing about doubles – it’s the teamwork. Some days I won’t be feeling it, like today, and then Marcy really stepped up. I’m sure there will be other times when maybe Marcy doesn’t feel it as much and I’ve got to step up," Kubler said.

Awaiting the Australians will be Great Britain's former world. No. 1 Neal Skupski and American Christian Harrison, the experienced sixth seeds, ousted third-seeded Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in straight sets in the other semifinal.

Harrison and Skupski, who both competed at last year’s ATP Finals with different partners, joined forces for the first time in Adelaide earlier this month, where they reached the semi-finals.

--IANS

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