Australian tennis had already taken a hit when Alex de Minaur crashed out of Wimbledon. So naturally, the game decided to answer with a reminder that not all of the nation’s hopes were packed away in one bag. Marc Polmans and Storm Hunter are into the mixed doubles final, and that is a proper result, not a cute little side note.
They beat Mate Pavic and Fanny Stollar 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 on Tuesday, and the score tells the story well enough: tight when it needed to be, then increasingly controlled once the pressure shifted. For Hunter in particular, it extends a strong Wimbledon run and keeps Australian interest very much alive on the grass a day after de Minaur’s exit threatened to flatten the mood.
Aussie doubles keeps producing
This is also part of something bigger. Australian doubles has been on a real run across the grand slams in recent years, even if Roland Garros remains the awkward exception that refuses to fit the pattern. Matt Ebden and Max Purcell won the men’s doubles at Wimbledon in 2022. Nick Kyrgios and Kokkinakis won the Australian Open men’s doubles that same year. Hijikata and Jason Kubler followed at the Australian Open in 2023. Purcell and Thompson added the US Open in 2024, even though Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara beat Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson in the Wimbledon men’s doubles final later that year.
That is the point here: this is not some isolated fluke. It is a recent habit. Australian pairs have shown they can keep turning up in the biggest doubles matches, and Polmans and Hunter have now joined that conversation at Wimbledon. They will face Jelena Ostapenko and Marcelo Arevalo in the final, which means the last step is a serious one. There is no point pretending otherwise.
One more match, one more chance
Hunter already knows what it is like to go deep at this level, having been a women’s finalist in 2023. Polmans and Hunter have now given Australia another shot at a major doubles title, and after the disappointment around de Minaur, that matters. It matters because tournaments are not only defined by the stars who fall out early; they are also shaped by the players who quietly keep winning when the pressure should be dragging everyone else down.
So yes, Arevalo tennis now comes next. And for Polmans and Hunter, that is not a distraction. It is the prize.
