Nick Kyrgios shouts at fan as he storms to Australian Open final with Thanasi Kokkinakis | Tennis | Sport

While all the noise was being made on the main court, barely 100 people were in the nearby Margaret Court Arena to see the other semi.

The US Open champions Salisbury and Ram had two set points on their own serve in the tiebreak but could not convert.

Salisbury said: “I was a bit surprised there weren’t more people out on court. Obviously the other match was going on at the same time. I was surprised it was pretty empty. I think we would have preferred if they had been more of an atmosphere even if it was against us. It just felt a bit flat at the start. Obviously didn’t help us.”

Ram said: “What stings a bit more is that we had the chance to extend the match and find our level in the tiebreak and I didn’t do it. I would have liked to have seen what we came up with in the third set if we have got that far.

“Obviously any loss in a Slam is a tough one. We have high expectations of ourselves. It will take a little bit of time for us to get over it.””