File photo of Yuki Bhambri (right) and Albano Olivetti.© X/@AITA__Tennis
India’s Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti advanced to the men’s doubles third round of the US Open with a hard-fought win over 15th seeds Austin Krajicek and Jean-Julien Roger in New York. The Indo-French pair defeated the USA-Dutch team 4-6 6-3 7-5 in the second round that lasted two hours and five minutes on Friday. This is only the second time that Bhambri has reached the third round at a Grand Slam, having reached the same stage at the Australian Open back in 2014.
Second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden also moved to third round with a 6-2 6-4 win over Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena and Federico Coria from Argentina.
Bopanna also won in the mixed doubles with Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi. Seeded eighth, they won 7-6 (7) 7-6 (5) against Germany’s Tim Puetz and Dutch player Demi Schuurs in the opening round.
However, another Indian in the fray, N Sriram Balaji and his Argentine partner Guido Andreozzi exited the US Open after losing to Michael Venus of New Zealand and Neal Skupski of Great Britain.
The Indo-Argentine pair lost 6-7 (4), 4-6 in the second-round match that featured just one break of serve in the second set.
In total, Venus and Skupski received seven break points, and converted one, while Balaji and Andreozzi failed to capitalise on their lone opportunity for a service break.
“The first step is to consistently play at this level. It’s starting from here. Now the next step is to get my ranking higher slowly,” Balaji told PTI, reflecting upon his campaign.
“Game wise I’m feeling confident and moving in the right direction. I also have to keep working on certain aspects of my game and keep getting better. This year the main difference was a coach/trainer travelling with me almost every other week, thanks to the doubles program,” he said.
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