Perseverance paid off for Austin Krajicek and Nicolas Mahut on Tuesday at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

Despite letting slip two match points in the second set of their quarter-final clash against Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, Krajicek and Mahut stuck to their task to seal a 6-3, 6-7(8), 10-7 win at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

[ATP APP]

The American-French pairing had trailed 5/7 in the decider but claimed the final five points of the match to extend their dream run in their first tour-level event as a team. Krajicek and Mahut’s first serves proved key to their triumph, with the unseeded duo sending down seven aces and winning 84 per cent (38/45) of points behind their first serves.

Krajicek and Mahut, who are competing together this week because Krajicek’s usual partner, Ivan Dodig, is out with an injury, will take on Kevin Krawietz and Fabrice Martin or home favourites Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton in the semi-finals in Florida.