Veterans Matt Ebden and John Peers have outplayed American singles stars Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul to guarantee at least a men’s tennis doubles silver for Australia at the Olympic Games.

The veteran Australian pair’s all-court nous as doubles specialists at Roland Garros saw them out-think and out-skill the higher-powered US duo 7-5 6-2 on Friday to earn themselves an unexpected shot at the gold medal match.

The two 36-year-olds will face another American pair, fourth seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram for the gold on Saturday.

Now they’re in with a chance of becoming the first Australian Olympic tennis champions since Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, took the men’s doubles crown in Atlanta in 1996.

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The win was the first time an Australian duo made the men’s gold medal match since Sydney 2000.

Melbourne’s Peers will be looking to add gold to the bronze he won with Ash Barty in the mixed doubles in Tokyo three years ago. 

While Perth’s outstanding Ebden will seek to crown a terrific year when he also had a spell as the world number one doubles player.

The Australians knew only superior doubles court-craft and tactics would be enough to beat the Americans, both ranked among the world’s top 13 singles men, on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Their ploy was to target Fritz mercilessly at the net when Paul was serving, having figured the world number 12’s discomfort there could prove the Americans’ weak link. It made for a hugely entertaining clash, with the Aussie combo giving the Americans a lesson in the doubles art. 

Ebden, inspired all match, even fired one straight at Fritz that smashed the American in the chest, drawing an apology from the Aussie.

Fritz finally cracked in the key 11th game of the opening set with Paul serving, when he hit a volley long, giving the Australians the first break of serve at 6-5.

Ebden then served out for the first set in 46 minutes, before the Australians pounced on Fritz’s first weak service game to earn a crucial break at the start of the second.

They consolidated with a second break to race into a 4-0 lead, silencing the largely pro-US crowd, before suffering a few nerves when Ebden served for the match, squandering a couple of match points until Fritz hit a long forehand to give them victory in an hour and 35 minutes

AAP/ABC