Kiwi Michael Venus is eyeing another Grand Slam doubles crown, after helping Canadian Bianca Andreescu into the French Open mixed doubles semi-finals.
The pair have toppled seventh-seeded Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk and El Salvador's Marcelo Arevelo 7-5 3-6 10-6 - the second time they've needed a super-tiebreak to progress to the next round.
As they did in their opening win over doubles exponents Bethanie Mattek-Sands of USA and Croatian Mate Pavic, they won the first set, but let the second slip, forcing a tense showdown for victory.
Venus, 35, is currently ranked world No.17 in doubles and teamed with American Ryan Harrison to take out the French Open men's event in 2017, one of 20 career titles on the ATP Tour.
This year, he has captured three tournament victories at Dallas, Banja Luka and Geneva with Briton Jamie Murray, although they were ousted by Arevalo and Dutch Jean-Julian Rojer in the third round at Roland Garros.
Venus' record in mixed doubles is not as impressive, but reached the US Open finals in 2017 and 2019, both times with Chan Hao-ching of Chinese Taipei.
Andreescu, 22, is better known for her single exploits, rising as high as No.4 in the world, but currently languishing at 31st, after her career was hijacked by injury.
The Canadian won the 2019 US Open singles crown, after finishing runner-up at Auckland's ASB Classic that same year, and hopes her doubles play will help elevate her individual game.
She is coached by former Tennis NZ high performance director Christophe Lambert.
Venus and Andreescu next face Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and American Nathaniel Lammons on Wednesday night (NZ time).
