Tennis: Pe'er in doubles finals; Ram, Erlich make semis

After dropping out of the Australian open singles tourney, Pe'er and partner Azarenka have chance to play for grand slam glory.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
After dropping out of the singles competition, Shahar Pe'er proved her prowess as a doubles player by beating the winners of last year's Australian Open doubles tournament with her Belarusian partner Victoria Azarenka. After losing to them earlier this months in the Gold Coast tournament, Pe'er and Azarenka beat their Chinese opponents Zi Yan and Jie Zheng 0-6, 7-5, 7-6. Meanwhile, Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich on Wednesday duplicated their best grand slam performance to date when they beat Marc Gicquel and Fabrice Santoro of France, 6-4, 6-1, to make the semifinals of the competition. The only time the longstanding doubles partners reached such an advanced stage in a grad slam tournament was in Wimbledon 2003. Ram and Erlich could face the top-ranked American brother duo Mike and Bob Brian for the right to play in the finals if, as expected, the Brians oust their opponents in the quarter finals.