Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares lose to Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram in closely fought Australian Open semi-final

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares lost in the semi-finals against Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. Picture: Mackenzie Sweetnam/Getty Images

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares’ bid to repeat their 2016 triumph at the Australian Open came unstuck at the semi-final stage as they lost to Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram.

Murray and Soares reunited at the start of the season but it was defending champions Salisbury and Ram who came out on top of a tight contest, winning 6-4, 7-6 (2).

It is rare for British players to find themselves on opposing sides of the net at the latter stages of grand slams and Englishman Salisbury and his American partner secured the bragging rights over their Scottish-Brazilian opponents.

“Obviously we really wanted to win,” said Salisbury. “It was the semi-final of a grand slam, so you’re going to want to win just as much whoever you’re playing against.”

Rajeev Ram of the United States and Joe Salisbury of Britain are aiming to retain the men's doubles title at the Australian Open. Picture: Mackenzie Sweetnam/Getty Images

Salisbury and Ram will play ninth seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia in Sunday’s final bidding to make it 12 straight wins at Melbourne Park.

Salisbury said: “It was a tough one. Very tight match throughout. We got off to a bad start, were broken, 3-0 down. I think we were a bit frustrated about that, and I think it was good that we got back on serve straight away.

“Then, we played really well the rest of that set. I’m sure they were pretty frustrated that they let that lead go. But then we felt good. Then the second set was really tight. I think we both weren’t serving as well as we can. I felt like they were a little bit on top in the second set.