BRITISH pair Olivia Nicholls and Henry Patten reached their first grand slam semi-final together in mixed doubles at the Australian Open.

Nicholls and Patten, who is also through to the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles, defeated Russian Irina Khromacheva and American Jackson Withrow 6-2 6-2.

Three British girls have reached the third round of the singles, with Hannah Klugman and Brooke Black joining Mingge Xu, who won her second-round match on Monday.

Klugman, seeded 14th, battled to a 6-3 5-7 6-2 win over Romania’s Maia Ilinca Burcescu while qualifier Black was an impressive 6-4 3-6 6-4 winner against seventh seed Tereza Krejcova of the Czech Republic.

The wheelchair competitions got under way today, and there were victories for Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid in the men’s singles.

Second seed Hewett, who is bidding to reach a fifth consecutive Australian Open final, saw off France’s Stephane Houdet 6-4 6-2 while Reid came through a battle against Belgian Joachim Gerard, winning 6-3 6-7 (5) 6-4.

In the quad wheelchair singles, Andy Lapthorne also reached the quarter-finals, beating Argentinian qualifier Gonzalo Enrique Lazarte 6-3 6-3.