India’s Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti have made history at the US Open, advancing to the men’s doubles third round with a hard-fought victory over 15th seeds Austin Krajicek and Jean-Julien Roger. The Indo-French pair overcame the USA-Dutch team 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in a thrilling encounter that lasted two hours and five minutes.
This marks only the second time Bhambri has reached the third round of a Grand Slam, having achieved the same feat at the Australian Open in 2014. The victory is a testament to the duo’s determination and skill, as they battled through a challenging match to secure their place in the next round.
Meanwhile, second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden also progressed to the third round with a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 win over Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena and Federico Coria from Argentina. Bopanna’s success extended to the mixed doubles, where he and Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi defeated Germany’s Tim Puetz and Dutch player Demi Schuurs 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5) in the opening round.
However, N Sriram Balaji and his Argentine partner Guido Andreozzi’s US Open journey came to an end in the second round. The Indo-Argentine pair lost 6-7 (4), 4-6 to Michael Venus of New Zealand and Neal Skupski of Great Britain. Despite a valiant effort, Balaji and Andreozzi were unable to capitalize on their lone opportunity for a service break, while their opponents converted one of their seven break points.
Reflecting on his campaign, Balaji expressed his satisfaction with his performance and highlighted the importance of consistency and improvement. “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,” he said. “Game wise I’m feeling confident and moving in the right direction.”
