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Klaasen, Ram shock Bryan brothers

Melbourne- South African doubles ace Raven Klaasen and his American partner Rajeev Ram are through to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

Klaasen and Ram, seeded 13th came from a set down to upset the third-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan of the USA 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Monday.

The underdogs needed 1 hour 47 minutes to shock the American favourites and served 13 aces and recoded 55 winners en route to victory.

The Bryan brothers were six-time champions in Melbourne.

“We played a very solid match today” said Klaasen following victory.

“It was a great atmosphere on Hisense Arena and we really enjoyed the match, and even more so because we were able to pull out the win. There is a lot of tennis left in this tournament and we want to keep improving.”

Klaasen reached the final of the 2014 Australian Open with previous partner Eric Bouterac of the USA while this is the third quarter-final doubles appearance for Ram. Ram’s previous two quarter-final appearances were in 2010 (with Bouterac) and 2012 (with Scott Lipsky, USA).

Between the two of them, Klaasen and Ram have won 17 career doubles titles on the ATP World Tour.

Former South African Davis Cup player and ATP professional, Jeff Coetzee, who is the touring coach of Klaasen and Ram said that his boys fought well after losing the opening set.

“Raven and Rajeev stuck to the game plan and the execution on big points paid off,” said Coetzee.

Klaasen and Ram will now face Jamie Murray (Great Britain) and Bruno Soares (Brazil), the seventh seeds, in the last eight on Tuesday.
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