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Quarter-final spot for Klaasen Down Under

Cape Town - South Africa’s Raven Klaasen and dis Dutch playing partner Michaella Krajicek on Tuesday reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

Klaasen and Krajicek defeated Robert Lindstedt from Sweden and Raquel Atawo from America 6-4, 6-4 to book their spot in the last eight of the year’s first Grand Slam.

Krajicek is the half-sister of 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek.

Klaasen and Krajicek will now face Juan Sebastian Cabal from Colombia and Abigail Spears from America for a spot in the semi-finals.

Klaasen’s participation in the men’s doubles ended last week when he and American playing partner, Rajeev Ram, lost their second round encounter 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) to Marcus Daniell from New Zealand and Marcelo Demoliner from Brazil.

Klaasen, who is the only South African competing in the main draw of the tournament, reached the men's doubles final of the Australian Open in 2014, when he and partner Eric Butorac lost to Lukasz Kubot and Robert Lindstedt.

Klaasen and Ram had an impressive 2016 season, winning one title (Chengdu, China) and made the ATP World Tour Finals, where they finished runners-up to Henri Kontinen (Finland) and John Peers (Australia).

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