Tokyo Olympics 2021: Latest Australian tennis news and results

Australia could add another gold medal to its growing collection after a stunning performance from Ash Barty and John Peers.

Ash Barty and John Peers have kept the Olympic dream alive with a stirring super tiebreaker win to book their spot in the mixed doubles semi-finals.

As the only Australian team still standing from the star-studded group announced in June, much is riding on the shoulders of Peers and Barty - not that you’d know it from their smiling demeanour during Thursday’s tense victory.

That pressure contributed to an anxious finish against Greek second-seeds Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari, before the Australian duo prevailed 6-4 4-6 10-6 to reach the semi-finals.

“Generally if you enjoy it a bit more you come out on top more often,” Peers said of the nerve-wracking tiebreaker.

Ashl Barty and John Peers have reached the final four of the mixed doubles. Getty Images

Standing in the way of the Australians and the gold medal match is a Friday showdown with Russian pair Andrey Rublev and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the fourth seeds who outlasted local hopes Ben McLachlan and Ena Shibahara.

“It’s exciting, that’s why we came here. The whole tennis team, the whole Team Australia, that’s why we came here to try and win medals for our country,” Barty said.

“I’m super proud of our week so far. But we’re certainly not done yet.”

Australia took the opening set 6-4 in half an hour, but were on the backfoot immediately in the second when Peers was broken in the opening game.

After splitting the first two sets, the match went to a super tiebreaker – a race to 10 points – in which Australia’s medal hopes went on the line.

They took points off both Sakkari and Tsisipas to open a 7-3 lead in the tiebreaker, and with a small but vocal crowd made up of teammates and support staff, closed out the match in 76 minutes.

“It was one which was a bit different in which the server dominated both sets,” Peers said.

“We just composed ourselves, took care of our serves in the tiebreak and made a couple more returns and that was pretty much the difference tonight.”

The lack of fans at these Games has been a sobering reminder of the global pandemic that forced a 12-month postponement of the Tokyo Olympics – but following an early gold rush from Australia’s swimmers and rowers, Barty said morale across the board was sky high.

“We were flicking on TVs today to try and watch some different sports and obviously there were some medal opportunities which was awesome,” she said.

“Even though the other athletes can’t be out here in the stands, we know they’re watching and we’re watching them as well. Those that are here make it a lot of fun and bring some atmosphere.”