Bryan brothers close in on Grand Slam record

US tennis star Mike Bryan (left) talks to his brother Bob during a doubles match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, on November 10, 2012. The siblings have reached the Australian Open semi-finals as they neared a new all-time record for Grand Slam men’s doubles titles.

MELBOURNE - America’s Bryan brothers reached the Australian Open semi-finals on Wednesday as they neared a new all-time record for Grand Slam men’s doubles titles.

The identical twins, 34, beat Italy’s Daniele Bracciali and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 7-5 to reach Thursday’s semis, where they will attempt to reach their 23rd Grand Slam final.

Victory in Melbourne would give the Bryans a new record of 13 major titles. They currently share the record of 12 with the Australian pairing of John Newcombe and Tony Roche.

The top seeds will play the unseeded Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini on Rod Laver Arena on Thursday.

The other semi-final pits Spanish third seeds Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez against the Netherlands’ Robin Haase and Igor Sijsling, who are unseeded.

In the women’s, top-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, fresh from their defeat of Serena and Venus Williams, beat Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4 to book a berth in the final.

They will face the winner of the second semi-final, in which unseeded Australians Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua face China’s Zheng Saisai and American Varvara Lepchenko.