The Block host Scott Cam reveals his go-to trick for uncovering hidden leaks... and the simple check could save homeowners thousands
Australia's favourite tradie, Scott Cam, has revealed his top tip for spotting hidden water damage in the home.
The longtime host of The Block says one of the most common issues Aussie homeowners face is neglecting their plumbing systems, particularly before going away on holiday.
"People are walking out the door for long European holidays without checking their gutters, their drains, or the flexi-hose under their sink, and they come home to (major) damage," Cam told News Corp.
"If you're home you can obviously turn the water off, but often these leaks happen while people are away."
Cam's warning comes off the back of new research by Allianz, which found that 84 per cent of Australian homeowners are not keeping up with regular maintenance checks- and 13 per cent admit they don't check at all unless something goes wrong.
"The stats are astounding," said Cam, 62.
According to the study, burst water pipes, many caused by faulty or ageing flexi-hoses, led to a staggering $864 million in insurance claims across the industry in the past year alone.
Backing up the findings, Water Leak Detection Australia noted that even a minor leak could lead to major damage over time.
"While a tiny leak might not seem like a big deal, over time, that drip adds up to litres of lost water, higher bills, and costly repairs," the company said in a statement.
"In Australia, water leaks sneak into homes and businesses, causing damage long before you even spot the problem.
"What begins as a silent drip behind a wall or under a slab can end in thousands of dollars down the drain."
They warned that insurance might not cover slow leaks if deemed to be the result of poor maintenance- potentially leaving homeowners to foot the bill for wall, ceiling, or even foundation repairs.
In some cases, families have been forced to move out entirely while the damage is fixed. Cam, who has fronted several Nine renovation shows since rising to fame on Backyard Blitz in the early 2000s, shared his personal trick for detecting a hidden leak.
"I recommend homeowners go to the water meter, mark the reading with a texta, and then make sure all water-using devices are turned off," he said.
"Come back a few hours later and check again. You'll know there is a hidden leak if the water reading has changed.
"Sometimes the meter might only move slightly, but it's a great way to see if you have a small drip somewhere.
The Melbourne-based father-of-three added that many maintenance checks simply come down to common sense.
"If it rains, go outside and see where the water is going. Under the sink, check those flexi-hoses," he said.
"We're trying to educate people."
And if you're feeling sheepish about not having done these checks before, Cam says don't worry- he probably wouldn't have either if he hadn't worked in the building industry.
"But since I do, I know that ignoring these small maintenance tasks can lead to big issues for your home and your wallet," he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
Why a good leader must banish their biases and baggage
Years ago now, I ran into Kirstin Ferguson at one of those networking events. She had what I thought was strong school captain energy* combined with wildly curly hair and an air of extreme calm. You could tell, just from a five-minute conversation, she had a wise centre. A few months later, she wrote to me asking if I would be part of a campaign of hers, #celebratingwomen. God knows why I said no but I was just at the end of my PhD and barely coherent - and had no desire to be the centre of anyone's attention. It ended up, with author Catherine Fox, designed to celebrate women supporting each other and became the book Women Kind. We've kept in touch since then. When she wrote her award-winning book about leadership, Head and Heart, she suggested I do the accompanying questionnaire to see what kind of a leader I was. Headish? Heartish? I ran from that too. Impulsive. Grumpy. Intense. Not exactly sure how my family survived me (although, spoiler alert, they have). Now, I've come good. In Ferguson's latest book, Blindspotting, I've found myself. What is a blind spot? Blind spots, says Ferguson, are really those flaws in our thinking where we've done something really well in the past and we plan to stick to our knitting. And she's got advice for the politicians in our two major parties. She fears the Labor Party's capacity for self-reflection may have been buried under its landslide victory. "Hubris can absolutely become a blind spot where you think that you now know what people want, you think you now know the answers," she says. And the Coalition? "I don't know that they're truly being honest with themselves about why they had such an appalling result, and unless they do that by seeking views outside of their own circles, then they'll just continue to perpetuate the blind spots that got them into this position in the first place. "They need to be able to disentangle their egos and really put that aside, to put the party first if they want to have any hope of succeeding in the future." That might take them at least another couple of election cycles. *So was I right about Ferguson's school captain energy? Nope, nope, nope, as one of our former prime ministers with major blind spots famously said. Ferguson went straight from school to ADFA. She was the first woman to become dux of an Australian air force graduating class at ADFA (in her year, women made up less than 10 per cent of the class). That's where her leadership began. As part of her first job, straight out of ADFA, she was appointed to a job which would break so many of us, the base burials officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, organising funerals for serving members who died because of illness, car accidents, misadventure. And for those who died by suicide. Years later, she undertook a Churchill Fellowship to talk to bereaved military families, to find out how our defence forces could do better with support. Doing better is what she's about. Being pleased with ourselves, though, can be a bit of hurdle if we really want to do well. But what's the problem with being pleased we've done well? Says Ferguson: "We think we'll do it well again. It can come through prejudice, not wanting to believe others can achieve something or do something. It can come through power, through being someone who can't put themselves in the shoes of others. "These are flaws in our thinking that we all have. Absolutely no one is immune from blind spots, and they're fuelled by biases and baggage we bring with us and a lack of curiosity about the world around us." Ferguson, now in her early 50s, says she has blind spots herself. She says she was a real advocate for working from home. She loves working from home herself. But it was only when she started listening to her own daughters, 23 and 25, and reading correspondence responding to her column, Got A Minute, in the Nine newspapers, she realised she needed to open up. "People miss working in the office, they get a lot out of being present, that camaraderie and culture. "I talk about needing to hold our convictions lightly, and on that one, I did, because it's not as though I've gone full tilt the other way. I still think we should have working from home, where it's feasible. The position should be made for people to have a choice. But it's no longer as black and white as I perhaps thought it was." How do we get past our blind spots? Ferguson has a training regime. Be honest with yourself. Be curious. Be flexible. Which is fine for her to say. The rest of us struggle. Her tips? (Dear god, they read like the first week back at the gym after a holiday). "We have to be honest about the fact that we have biases, and we have to be able to disentangle our ego from thinking that we have to be right," she says. I hope our politicians are reading this as we speak. The next one is easy, at least for me. I'm a native-born nosy parker. "Be willing to question for insights rather than trying to win arguments," says Ferguson. And finally, we need to be flexible. "That is all about being willing to change our mind in the face of new information, it's being able to embrace ambiguity, because the world is uncertain," she says. Too many of our leaders across all sectors pretend they are certain. "When we look at some of the political leaders we have, some of the business leaders, other people that we celebrate, so often they're exactly the kind of vacuous people that operate off charisma. "But for time immemorial, these people have consistently failed us in the end - but we continue to be caught out by the ease with which they can convince us they know what they're talking about when they really don't." Ferguson's right about this: "They convince us that they've got our best interests at heart when they really don't." Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease. Years ago now, I ran into Kirstin Ferguson at one of those networking events. She had what I thought was strong school captain energy* combined with wildly curly hair and an air of extreme calm. You could tell, just from a five-minute conversation, she had a wise centre. A few months later, she wrote to me asking if I would be part of a campaign of hers, #celebratingwomen. God knows why I said no but I was just at the end of my PhD and barely coherent - and had no desire to be the centre of anyone's attention. It ended up, with author Catherine Fox, designed to celebrate women supporting each other and became the book Women Kind. We've kept in touch since then. When she wrote her award-winning book about leadership, Head and Heart, she suggested I do the accompanying questionnaire to see what kind of a leader I was. Headish? Heartish? I ran from that too. Impulsive. Grumpy. Intense. Not exactly sure how my family survived me (although, spoiler alert, they have). Now, I've come good. In Ferguson's latest book, Blindspotting, I've found myself. What is a blind spot? Blind spots, says Ferguson, are really those flaws in our thinking where we've done something really well in the past and we plan to stick to our knitting. And she's got advice for the politicians in our two major parties. She fears the Labor Party's capacity for self-reflection may have been buried under its landslide victory. "Hubris can absolutely become a blind spot where you think that you now know what people want, you think you now know the answers," she says. And the Coalition? "I don't know that they're truly being honest with themselves about why they had such an appalling result, and unless they do that by seeking views outside of their own circles, then they'll just continue to perpetuate the blind spots that got them into this position in the first place. "They need to be able to disentangle their egos and really put that aside, to put the party first if they want to have any hope of succeeding in the future." That might take them at least another couple of election cycles. *So was I right about Ferguson's school captain energy? Nope, nope, nope, as one of our former prime ministers with major blind spots famously said. Ferguson went straight from school to ADFA. She was the first woman to become dux of an Australian air force graduating class at ADFA (in her year, women made up less than 10 per cent of the class). That's where her leadership began. As part of her first job, straight out of ADFA, she was appointed to a job which would break so many of us, the base burials officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, organising funerals for serving members who died because of illness, car accidents, misadventure. And for those who died by suicide. Years later, she undertook a Churchill Fellowship to talk to bereaved military families, to find out how our defence forces could do better with support. Doing better is what she's about. Being pleased with ourselves, though, can be a bit of hurdle if we really want to do well. But what's the problem with being pleased we've done well? Says Ferguson: "We think we'll do it well again. It can come through prejudice, not wanting to believe others can achieve something or do something. It can come through power, through being someone who can't put themselves in the shoes of others. "These are flaws in our thinking that we all have. Absolutely no one is immune from blind spots, and they're fuelled by biases and baggage we bring with us and a lack of curiosity about the world around us." Ferguson, now in her early 50s, says she has blind spots herself. She says she was a real advocate for working from home. She loves working from home herself. But it was only when she started listening to her own daughters, 23 and 25, and reading correspondence responding to her column, Got A Minute, in the Nine newspapers, she realised she needed to open up. "People miss working in the office, they get a lot out of being present, that camaraderie and culture. "I talk about needing to hold our convictions lightly, and on that one, I did, because it's not as though I've gone full tilt the other way. I still think we should have working from home, where it's feasible. The position should be made for people to have a choice. But it's no longer as black and white as I perhaps thought it was." How do we get past our blind spots? Ferguson has a training regime. Be honest with yourself. Be curious. Be flexible. Which is fine for her to say. The rest of us struggle. Her tips? (Dear god, they read like the first week back at the gym after a holiday). "We have to be honest about the fact that we have biases, and we have to be able to disentangle our ego from thinking that we have to be right," she says. I hope our politicians are reading this as we speak. The next one is easy, at least for me. I'm a native-born nosy parker. "Be willing to question for insights rather than trying to win arguments," says Ferguson. And finally, we need to be flexible. "That is all about being willing to change our mind in the face of new information, it's being able to embrace ambiguity, because the world is uncertain," she says. Too many of our leaders across all sectors pretend they are certain. "When we look at some of the political leaders we have, some of the business leaders, other people that we celebrate, so often they're exactly the kind of vacuous people that operate off charisma. "But for time immemorial, these people have consistently failed us in the end - but we continue to be caught out by the ease with which they can convince us they know what they're talking about when they really don't." Ferguson's right about this: "They convince us that they've got our best interests at heart when they really don't." Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease. Years ago now, I ran into Kirstin Ferguson at one of those networking events. She had what I thought was strong school captain energy* combined with wildly curly hair and an air of extreme calm. You could tell, just from a five-minute conversation, she had a wise centre. A few months later, she wrote to me asking if I would be part of a campaign of hers, #celebratingwomen. God knows why I said no but I was just at the end of my PhD and barely coherent - and had no desire to be the centre of anyone's attention. It ended up, with author Catherine Fox, designed to celebrate women supporting each other and became the book Women Kind. We've kept in touch since then. When she wrote her award-winning book about leadership, Head and Heart, she suggested I do the accompanying questionnaire to see what kind of a leader I was. Headish? Heartish? I ran from that too. Impulsive. Grumpy. Intense. Not exactly sure how my family survived me (although, spoiler alert, they have). Now, I've come good. In Ferguson's latest book, Blindspotting, I've found myself. What is a blind spot? Blind spots, says Ferguson, are really those flaws in our thinking where we've done something really well in the past and we plan to stick to our knitting. And she's got advice for the politicians in our two major parties. She fears the Labor Party's capacity for self-reflection may have been buried under its landslide victory. "Hubris can absolutely become a blind spot where you think that you now know what people want, you think you now know the answers," she says. And the Coalition? "I don't know that they're truly being honest with themselves about why they had such an appalling result, and unless they do that by seeking views outside of their own circles, then they'll just continue to perpetuate the blind spots that got them into this position in the first place. "They need to be able to disentangle their egos and really put that aside, to put the party first if they want to have any hope of succeeding in the future." That might take them at least another couple of election cycles. *So was I right about Ferguson's school captain energy? Nope, nope, nope, as one of our former prime ministers with major blind spots famously said. Ferguson went straight from school to ADFA. She was the first woman to become dux of an Australian air force graduating class at ADFA (in her year, women made up less than 10 per cent of the class). That's where her leadership began. As part of her first job, straight out of ADFA, she was appointed to a job which would break so many of us, the base burials officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, organising funerals for serving members who died because of illness, car accidents, misadventure. And for those who died by suicide. Years later, she undertook a Churchill Fellowship to talk to bereaved military families, to find out how our defence forces could do better with support. Doing better is what she's about. Being pleased with ourselves, though, can be a bit of hurdle if we really want to do well. But what's the problem with being pleased we've done well? Says Ferguson: "We think we'll do it well again. It can come through prejudice, not wanting to believe others can achieve something or do something. It can come through power, through being someone who can't put themselves in the shoes of others. "These are flaws in our thinking that we all have. Absolutely no one is immune from blind spots, and they're fuelled by biases and baggage we bring with us and a lack of curiosity about the world around us." Ferguson, now in her early 50s, says she has blind spots herself. She says she was a real advocate for working from home. She loves working from home herself. But it was only when she started listening to her own daughters, 23 and 25, and reading correspondence responding to her column, Got A Minute, in the Nine newspapers, she realised she needed to open up. "People miss working in the office, they get a lot out of being present, that camaraderie and culture. "I talk about needing to hold our convictions lightly, and on that one, I did, because it's not as though I've gone full tilt the other way. I still think we should have working from home, where it's feasible. The position should be made for people to have a choice. But it's no longer as black and white as I perhaps thought it was." How do we get past our blind spots? Ferguson has a training regime. Be honest with yourself. Be curious. Be flexible. Which is fine for her to say. The rest of us struggle. Her tips? (Dear god, they read like the first week back at the gym after a holiday). "We have to be honest about the fact that we have biases, and we have to be able to disentangle our ego from thinking that we have to be right," she says. I hope our politicians are reading this as we speak. The next one is easy, at least for me. I'm a native-born nosy parker. "Be willing to question for insights rather than trying to win arguments," says Ferguson. And finally, we need to be flexible. "That is all about being willing to change our mind in the face of new information, it's being able to embrace ambiguity, because the world is uncertain," she says. Too many of our leaders across all sectors pretend they are certain. "When we look at some of the political leaders we have, some of the business leaders, other people that we celebrate, so often they're exactly the kind of vacuous people that operate off charisma. "But for time immemorial, these people have consistently failed us in the end - but we continue to be caught out by the ease with which they can convince us they know what they're talking about when they really don't." Ferguson's right about this: "They convince us that they've got our best interests at heart when they really don't." Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease. Years ago now, I ran into Kirstin Ferguson at one of those networking events. She had what I thought was strong school captain energy* combined with wildly curly hair and an air of extreme calm. You could tell, just from a five-minute conversation, she had a wise centre. A few months later, she wrote to me asking if I would be part of a campaign of hers, #celebratingwomen. God knows why I said no but I was just at the end of my PhD and barely coherent - and had no desire to be the centre of anyone's attention. It ended up, with author Catherine Fox, designed to celebrate women supporting each other and became the book Women Kind. We've kept in touch since then. When she wrote her award-winning book about leadership, Head and Heart, she suggested I do the accompanying questionnaire to see what kind of a leader I was. Headish? Heartish? I ran from that too. Impulsive. Grumpy. Intense. Not exactly sure how my family survived me (although, spoiler alert, they have). Now, I've come good. In Ferguson's latest book, Blindspotting, I've found myself. What is a blind spot? Blind spots, says Ferguson, are really those flaws in our thinking where we've done something really well in the past and we plan to stick to our knitting. And she's got advice for the politicians in our two major parties. She fears the Labor Party's capacity for self-reflection may have been buried under its landslide victory. "Hubris can absolutely become a blind spot where you think that you now know what people want, you think you now know the answers," she says. And the Coalition? "I don't know that they're truly being honest with themselves about why they had such an appalling result, and unless they do that by seeking views outside of their own circles, then they'll just continue to perpetuate the blind spots that got them into this position in the first place. "They need to be able to disentangle their egos and really put that aside, to put the party first if they want to have any hope of succeeding in the future." That might take them at least another couple of election cycles. *So was I right about Ferguson's school captain energy? Nope, nope, nope, as one of our former prime ministers with major blind spots famously said. Ferguson went straight from school to ADFA. She was the first woman to become dux of an Australian air force graduating class at ADFA (in her year, women made up less than 10 per cent of the class). That's where her leadership began. As part of her first job, straight out of ADFA, she was appointed to a job which would break so many of us, the base burials officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, organising funerals for serving members who died because of illness, car accidents, misadventure. And for those who died by suicide. Years later, she undertook a Churchill Fellowship to talk to bereaved military families, to find out how our defence forces could do better with support. Doing better is what she's about. Being pleased with ourselves, though, can be a bit of hurdle if we really want to do well. But what's the problem with being pleased we've done well? Says Ferguson: "We think we'll do it well again. It can come through prejudice, not wanting to believe others can achieve something or do something. It can come through power, through being someone who can't put themselves in the shoes of others. "These are flaws in our thinking that we all have. Absolutely no one is immune from blind spots, and they're fuelled by biases and baggage we bring with us and a lack of curiosity about the world around us." Ferguson, now in her early 50s, says she has blind spots herself. She says she was a real advocate for working from home. She loves working from home herself. But it was only when she started listening to her own daughters, 23 and 25, and reading correspondence responding to her column, Got A Minute, in the Nine newspapers, she realised she needed to open up. "People miss working in the office, they get a lot out of being present, that camaraderie and culture. "I talk about needing to hold our convictions lightly, and on that one, I did, because it's not as though I've gone full tilt the other way. I still think we should have working from home, where it's feasible. The position should be made for people to have a choice. But it's no longer as black and white as I perhaps thought it was." How do we get past our blind spots? Ferguson has a training regime. Be honest with yourself. Be curious. Be flexible. Which is fine for her to say. The rest of us struggle. Her tips? (Dear god, they read like the first week back at the gym after a holiday). "We have to be honest about the fact that we have biases, and we have to be able to disentangle our ego from thinking that we have to be right," she says. I hope our politicians are reading this as we speak. The next one is easy, at least for me. I'm a native-born nosy parker. "Be willing to question for insights rather than trying to win arguments," says Ferguson. And finally, we need to be flexible. "That is all about being willing to change our mind in the face of new information, it's being able to embrace ambiguity, because the world is uncertain," she says. Too many of our leaders across all sectors pretend they are certain. "When we look at some of the political leaders we have, some of the business leaders, other people that we celebrate, so often they're exactly the kind of vacuous people that operate off charisma. "But for time immemorial, these people have consistently failed us in the end - but we continue to be caught out by the ease with which they can convince us they know what they're talking about when they really don't." Ferguson's right about this: "They convince us that they've got our best interests at heart when they really don't." Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.
The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
Double-touch penalties must be retaken in law change
Penalties scored when a player accidentally touches the ball twice must be retaken, world soccer's lawmaking body IFAB has ruled. The change in the law follows Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez having his spot kick disallowed in a European Champions League last-16 match. During a tense shootout with Real Madrid in March, the Argentine forward Alvarez slipped and VAR spotted that his left foot touched the ball slightly before he kicked it with his right. Although Alvarez converted the penalty, the goal was chalked off and Atletico went on to lose the shootout and were eliminated from the Champions League. European soccer's governing body UEFA said the correct decision was made under the current laws but IFAB (International Football Association Board) has said that in such cases the penalty must be retaken. "(When) the penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick: if the kick is successful, it is retaken," IFAB said in a circular. "If the kick is unsuccessful, an indirect free kick is awarded (unless the referee plays advantage when it clearly benefits the defending team). In the case of penalties (penalty shootout), the kick is recorded as missed." The decision to disallow Alvarez's penalty left Atletico boss Diego Simeone livid and the club's fans outraged. IFAB added that if the penalty taker deliberately kicks the ball with both feet or deliberately touches it a second time, an indirect free kick is awarded or, in the case of shootouts, it is recorded as missed. The new procedures are effective for competitions starting on or after July 1 Penalties scored when a player accidentally touches the ball twice must be retaken, world soccer's lawmaking body IFAB has ruled. The change in the law follows Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez having his spot kick disallowed in a European Champions League last-16 match. During a tense shootout with Real Madrid in March, the Argentine forward Alvarez slipped and VAR spotted that his left foot touched the ball slightly before he kicked it with his right. Although Alvarez converted the penalty, the goal was chalked off and Atletico went on to lose the shootout and were eliminated from the Champions League. European soccer's governing body UEFA said the correct decision was made under the current laws but IFAB (International Football Association Board) has said that in such cases the penalty must be retaken. "(When) the penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick: if the kick is successful, it is retaken," IFAB said in a circular. "If the kick is unsuccessful, an indirect free kick is awarded (unless the referee plays advantage when it clearly benefits the defending team). In the case of penalties (penalty shootout), the kick is recorded as missed." The decision to disallow Alvarez's penalty left Atletico boss Diego Simeone livid and the club's fans outraged. IFAB added that if the penalty taker deliberately kicks the ball with both feet or deliberately touches it a second time, an indirect free kick is awarded or, in the case of shootouts, it is recorded as missed. The new procedures are effective for competitions starting on or after July 1 Penalties scored when a player accidentally touches the ball twice must be retaken, world soccer's lawmaking body IFAB has ruled. The change in the law follows Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez having his spot kick disallowed in a European Champions League last-16 match. During a tense shootout with Real Madrid in March, the Argentine forward Alvarez slipped and VAR spotted that his left foot touched the ball slightly before he kicked it with his right. Although Alvarez converted the penalty, the goal was chalked off and Atletico went on to lose the shootout and were eliminated from the Champions League. European soccer's governing body UEFA said the correct decision was made under the current laws but IFAB (International Football Association Board) has said that in such cases the penalty must be retaken. "(When) the penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick: if the kick is successful, it is retaken," IFAB said in a circular. "If the kick is unsuccessful, an indirect free kick is awarded (unless the referee plays advantage when it clearly benefits the defending team). In the case of penalties (penalty shootout), the kick is recorded as missed." The decision to disallow Alvarez's penalty left Atletico boss Diego Simeone livid and the club's fans outraged. IFAB added that if the penalty taker deliberately kicks the ball with both feet or deliberately touches it a second time, an indirect free kick is awarded or, in the case of shootouts, it is recorded as missed. The new procedures are effective for competitions starting on or after July 1
The Advertiser
an hour ago
- The Advertiser
Ebden and Peers edged out in Paris thriller
Veteran Australian doubles duo Matt Ebden and John Peers' hopes of repeating their Paris triumph in last year's Olympic Games on the clay of Roland Garros have hit the buffers in a titanic quarter-final against Brits Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski. Last August, the Aussies clinched gold on Court Philippe Chatrier and in February, after a Davis Cup tie, they decided to team up on tour in search of more men's doubles glory. On Tuesday, on a breezy Court Simonne-Mathieu at the French Open, Ebden and Peers looked on course for the semis when they won a marathon first set 7-4 on a tiebreaker - just reward for the pressure they had exerted when the No.8 seeds were serving. But Peers twice had treatment for his heavily-strapped right elbow and Ebden's serve was broken late in the second and early in the third sets as Salisbury and Skupski hit back to win 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 6-4. It was a gutsy effort by Peers, 36, and Ebden, 37, who live near each other in Perth and were seeded No.15 at Roland Garros. Having trailed 4-1 in the decider, they broke Skupski for 4-2 and Peers showed no ill effects from his sore arm to hold serve confidently for 3-4. Another shift in momentum looked on the cards but the Brits had just enough of a lead to get them over the line three games later, in 2 hours 35 minutes, as Skupski held serve to love. The British pair will next face the US pair Christian Harrison and Evan King, who beat No.2 seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten. Veteran Australian doubles duo Matt Ebden and John Peers' hopes of repeating their Paris triumph in last year's Olympic Games on the clay of Roland Garros have hit the buffers in a titanic quarter-final against Brits Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski. Last August, the Aussies clinched gold on Court Philippe Chatrier and in February, after a Davis Cup tie, they decided to team up on tour in search of more men's doubles glory. On Tuesday, on a breezy Court Simonne-Mathieu at the French Open, Ebden and Peers looked on course for the semis when they won a marathon first set 7-4 on a tiebreaker - just reward for the pressure they had exerted when the No.8 seeds were serving. But Peers twice had treatment for his heavily-strapped right elbow and Ebden's serve was broken late in the second and early in the third sets as Salisbury and Skupski hit back to win 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 6-4. It was a gutsy effort by Peers, 36, and Ebden, 37, who live near each other in Perth and were seeded No.15 at Roland Garros. Having trailed 4-1 in the decider, they broke Skupski for 4-2 and Peers showed no ill effects from his sore arm to hold serve confidently for 3-4. Another shift in momentum looked on the cards but the Brits had just enough of a lead to get them over the line three games later, in 2 hours 35 minutes, as Skupski held serve to love. The British pair will next face the US pair Christian Harrison and Evan King, who beat No.2 seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten. Veteran Australian doubles duo Matt Ebden and John Peers' hopes of repeating their Paris triumph in last year's Olympic Games on the clay of Roland Garros have hit the buffers in a titanic quarter-final against Brits Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski. Last August, the Aussies clinched gold on Court Philippe Chatrier and in February, after a Davis Cup tie, they decided to team up on tour in search of more men's doubles glory. On Tuesday, on a breezy Court Simonne-Mathieu at the French Open, Ebden and Peers looked on course for the semis when they won a marathon first set 7-4 on a tiebreaker - just reward for the pressure they had exerted when the No.8 seeds were serving. But Peers twice had treatment for his heavily-strapped right elbow and Ebden's serve was broken late in the second and early in the third sets as Salisbury and Skupski hit back to win 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 6-4. It was a gutsy effort by Peers, 36, and Ebden, 37, who live near each other in Perth and were seeded No.15 at Roland Garros. Having trailed 4-1 in the decider, they broke Skupski for 4-2 and Peers showed no ill effects from his sore arm to hold serve confidently for 3-4. Another shift in momentum looked on the cards but the Brits had just enough of a lead to get them over the line three games later, in 2 hours 35 minutes, as Skupski held serve to love. The British pair will next face the US pair Christian Harrison and Evan King, who beat No.2 seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten. Veteran Australian doubles duo Matt Ebden and John Peers' hopes of repeating their Paris triumph in last year's Olympic Games on the clay of Roland Garros have hit the buffers in a titanic quarter-final against Brits Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski. Last August, the Aussies clinched gold on Court Philippe Chatrier and in February, after a Davis Cup tie, they decided to team up on tour in search of more men's doubles glory. On Tuesday, on a breezy Court Simonne-Mathieu at the French Open, Ebden and Peers looked on course for the semis when they won a marathon first set 7-4 on a tiebreaker - just reward for the pressure they had exerted when the No.8 seeds were serving. But Peers twice had treatment for his heavily-strapped right elbow and Ebden's serve was broken late in the second and early in the third sets as Salisbury and Skupski hit back to win 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 6-4. It was a gutsy effort by Peers, 36, and Ebden, 37, who live near each other in Perth and were seeded No.15 at Roland Garros. Having trailed 4-1 in the decider, they broke Skupski for 4-2 and Peers showed no ill effects from his sore arm to hold serve confidently for 3-4. Another shift in momentum looked on the cards but the Brits had just enough of a lead to get them over the line three games later, in 2 hours 35 minutes, as Skupski held serve to love. The British pair will next face the US pair Christian Harrison and Evan King, who beat No.2 seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten.
