McLachlan and his German playing partner, Jan-Lennard Struff, won their third-round doubles match at the Australian Open in Melbourne last night and with it reached the quarterfinals of the grand slam.
It was a huge effort from McLachlan, who looked calm and composed in the match against Spaniards Pablo Carreno-Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopes.
McLachlan and Struff won the match 6-4, 7-6, winning the second set tie-break 7-5.
McLachlan served to get the duo to match point and the match was won when Garcia-Lopez fired a return into the net.
The win puts the pair through to a quarterfinal against Marcelo Melo, of Brazil, and Lukasz Kubat, of Poland, who won earlier yesterday. It is expected the game will be played this afternoon.
It is a great run for the duo who had never played together until the tournament, and Struff acknowledged the combination after the game.
He said at the televised interview after the game he had simply texted McLachlan to see if he was interested in playing with him.
McLachlan answered yes and the duo was formed.
McLachlan said he was very happy with the victory and he thanked the Japanese fans, the local fans and also the Queenstown tennis supporters who had come over for the game. He said he was having a great time and did not want it to end.
Struff, who lost to Roger Federer in the second round of the singles last week, was strong throughout.
The duo broke the Spanish duo early on in the first set and hung on to take the set.
Neither pairing could break the other in the second set and it went to a tie-breaker which the Struff-McLachlan combination won at the first attempt.
McLachlan declared for Japan last year - though he is still based in Queenstown - and then swiftly won the Japan Open, but the past week at the Australian Open must be the highlight of the 25-year-old's career.
New Zealander Marcus Daniel also won through to the quarterfinal with a win yesterday.
