There will be a local presence in the last four of the doubles on Friday at the ASB Classic, after Kiwi Marcus Daniell and his Austrian partner took out a hard fought quarter final on Thursday afternoon.
In front of a raucous crowd on an outside court, Daniell and Oswald came back from a set down to prevail 4-6 6-1 10-7.
"From the first game those guys brought the pressure, got us at sudden death deuce in the first game," said Daniell, who also felt they were "unlucky" with a line call on their only break point in the first set.
"In the second set I felt like we really stepped up, went to another gear on return games and sort of ran away with it. The super [tiebreak] is just anyone's game and with the home crowd and the energy that they bring, we were just able to out passion them a little bit."
Daniell, who took the Auckland title in 2010 alongside Horia Tecau, is the last remaining Kiwi in the draw – after Artem Sitak and Divij Sharan (India) were edged 7-5 6-7 (3) 10-8 by the Belgian combination of Sander GIlle and Joran Vliegen, and sees it as a privilege.
