Casey Dellacqua and Ashleigh Barty have won a doubles showdown featuring fellow Australian Daria Gavrilova to edge closer to an elusive first grand slam doubles title in Paris.
In extending their claycourt winning streak to eight matches, Dellacqua and Barty reached the French Open quarter-finals with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 victory over Gavrilova and her Russian partner Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Monday.
A mixed doubles champion at Roland Garros in 2011 with American Scott Lipsky, Dellacqua has been a grand slam bridesmaid in six women's finals, including the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open with Barty in 2013.
Now the 32-year-old remains on track for a doubles double in the French capital after also remaining alive in the mixed event with Rajeev Ram.
The openly gay star's run in Paris comes after Dellacqua received widespread locker-room support for calling out Margaret Court for the tennis legend's vocal stance against same-sex marriage.
Snaring a grand slam title at Roland Garros would send another powerful message to Court, whose homophobia has been the talk of the Open and the subject of a video mickey-take from John McEnroe.
Champions twice already in 2017, including in Strasbourg a fortnight ago, Dellacqua and Barty will play Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu and China's Zheng Saisai for a spot in the last four.
Dellacqua will also continue her twin title tilt with Ram later on Monday in a quarter-final against Lucie Hradecka and Marcin Matkowski.
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