Melbourne, Australia, 14 February 2021 | Leigh Rogers

Fourth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Lukasz Kubot have knocked Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis out of the Australian Open 2021 men’s doubles competition.

World No.7 Koolhof, a 31-year-old from the Netherlands, and world No.9 Kubot, a 38-year-old from Poland and the Australian Open 2014 doubles champion, showed their doubles nous to record a 6-3 6-4 victory against the Aussie wildcards at Margaret Court Arena today.

“We just wanted to have some fun out there and I think we did that. The guys were just too good, so hats off to them,” Kokkinakis said.

“We lost to the better team. They’re No.4 for a reason, so it’s all good.”

Koolhof and Kubot progress to the third round where they’ll face another all-Australian team of Matthew Ebden and John-Patrick Smith.

Ebden and Smith, along with John Peers and New Zealand’s Michael Venus, are the last remaining Aussie hopes in the men’s doubles draw.

Eighth-seeded French duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, the Australian Open 2019 champions, ended the winning run of Australian wildcards James Duckworth and Marc Polmans.

John Millman also lost in third round men’s doubles action today. Second-seeded Croat combination Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic proved too strong for Millman and Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro.

> VIEW: Australian Open 2021 men’s doubles draw

There were some better results for Australian players in mixed doubles action.

Matthew Ebden and Sam Stosur scored a comprehensive win against Kazahk duo Alexander Bublik and Elena Rybakina.

“We just had fun and enjoyed ourselves,” Stosur said after winning in 50 minutes.

Australian duo Max Purcell and Arina Rodionova are also through to the second round, combining brilliantly to defeat Venus and Chile’s Alexa Guarachi.

Peers and Belinda Woolcock almost joined them – but were unable to convert the five match point opportunities they had in their first-round match against Brit Neal Skupski and Slovenian Andreja Klepac.

> VIEW: Australian Open 2021 mixed doubles draw

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2021

Aussies in action – day seven results

Men’s doubles, second round
[4] Wesley Koolhof (NED)/Lukasz Kubot (POL) d [WC] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS)/Nick Kyrgios (AUS) 6-3 6-4

Men’s doubles, third round
[2] Nikola Mektic (CRO)/Mate Pavic (CRO) d John Millman (AUS)/Thiago Monteiro (BRA) 7-6(2) 6-4
[8] Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA)/Nicolas Mahut (FRA) d [WC] James Duckworth (AUS)/Marc Polmans (AUS) 6-4 6-3

Mixed doubles, first round
[WC] Max Purcell (AUS)/Arina Rodionova (AUS) d Michael Venus (NZL)/Alexa Guarachi (CHI) 7-5 6-4
[WC] Matthew Ebden (AUS)/Sam Stosur (AUS) d Alexander Bublik (KAZ)/Elena Rybakina (KAZ) 6-1 6-4
Neal Skupski (GBR)/Andreja Klepac (SLO) d [WC] John Peers (AUS)/Belinda Woolcock (AUS) 6-2 5-7 [12-10]