Raven Klaasen and Eric Butorac stand two sets away from completing a stunning and improbable run at the Australian Open doubles crown. Klaasen, a 31-year-old doubles specialist from South Africa, had only made it past the first round of a Grand Slam doubles event once in his entire career.

His partner, the current Vice President of the ATP Player Council, has an even more unlikely background. Butorac played college tennis at Division III Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. To put that background into perspective, other prominent American players played college tennis at brand-name schools such as the University of Georgia (John Isner), the University of South California (Steve Johnson) and Harvard University (James Blake). Butorac has served as a volunteer assistant coach at Harvard.

Klaasen and Butorac only recently started teaming up on a regular basis. In fact, the tandem played their first tournament together last September.  The young nature of their partnership makes their run through the draw even more remarkable. Other than their first-round victory over Lleyton Hewitt and Patrick Rafter, all of the teams that Butorac and Klaasen have beaten are well-established.

Their list of scalps include the teams of Jamie Murray/John Peers, Dominic Inglot/Treat Huey, Nenad Zimonjic/Daniel Nestor and, most notably, Bob and Mike Bryan. It is an incredible achievement for a team that just came together last fall to beat Zimonjic/Nestor, who have won three major titles together, and the Bryans, who have won 15 major titles together.

When Klaasen and Butorac take to the court Saturday, Robert Lindstedt and Lukasz Kubot will be the men standing on the other side of the net looking to end their run at destiny.

For Kubot, this event marks a personal best result at a major doubles tournament. The Pole had made the quarterfinals of every major but no further. He’ll be hoping to hoist the trophy alongside a partner who has experienced an undue amount of heartbreak in the latter stages of majors. Between 2010-2012, Linstedt lost three consecutive times in the final of Wimbledon with Horia Tecau, which included a brutally close five-set loss at the hands of Johnathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen in 2012.

Kubot and Lindstedt have not gone through the tournament untouched and unchallenged either. They have won three consecutive three-set matches over three highly talented squads. Kubot and Linstedt took out Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo, Max Mirnyi/Mikhail Youzhny, and Nicolas Mahut/ Michael Llodra.

Looking back, the 2013 doubles season was utterly dominated by the Bryan Brothers, who won the first three grand slams of the year before losing in the US Open semifinals to Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek, who would go on to win the title. The season ended with Spaniards Fernando Verdasco and David Marrero taking down the Bryan brothers to capture the title at the World Tour Finals. Verdasco and Marrero were eliminated in the second round of the Australian Open by the young Aussies Alex Bolt and Andrew Whittington.

Although these teams have never met, the final should feature inspired and determined tennis, providing for a high-quality affair.  Regardless who wins, the teams of Kubot/Lindstedt and Klaasen/Butorac may have already set the 2014 doubles scene ablaze by rejuvenating the spirit of the underdog.

Prediction: Kubot/Lindstedt in three sets