27 January 2017 | Tennis Australia

Two mixed doubles sides with Australian interest contested semi-finals at Melbourne Park on Friday but neither could quite grab a ticket for the trophy showdown.

Sam Stosur and Sam Groth have been in fine form playing as a duo this week but were undone 6-4 2-6 10-5 by the second seeds Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig.

The Aussies rattled off 16 winners in the first set but were just edged out. Despite Groth suffering with a neck problem the duo fought back and stormed to level up the tie in just 30 minutes but it was the Indian/Croatian team that were named victorious in a tense match tie-break.

Later on Margaret Court Arena and Aussie Chris Guccione alongside Elina Svitolina took on Abigail Spears and Juan Sebastian Cabal.

Guccione and Svitlona served well, succeeding with 71 per cent of first deliveries to make it a finely poised contest, however Spears/Cabal prevailed 7-6(1) 6-2 having struck 33 winners.