New Delhi: The Indian tennis duo Vishnu Vardhan and Sriram Balaji lost the doubles semi-finals to Australian top seed Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith in straight sets of the Tata Open Maharashtra 2022 at the Balewadi Stadium, Pune, on Friday, February 04, 2022.
The Indian pair entered the tournaments as replacements. Saville and Smith captured an early dominance, broke the Indian pair in the fifth game, and clinched the opening set with ease. Though Vardhan and Balaji maintained consistency in the second set, the experienced Australian pair produced better consistency to pocket the match in straight sets.
Vardhan and Balaji received a straight entry in the quarterfinals after opponents Gianluca Mager and Emil Ruusuvuori withdrew before the match. The duo had defeated compatriots Arjun Khade and Purav Raja in round one.
Meanwhile, the Indian pair of Bopanna and Ramanathan will face the French pair of Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia in the doubles semi-finals on Saturday, February 05, 2022. They will have a second shot at the ATP title this year if they win the semis.
While Yuki Bhambri lost the singles round of 16, other Indian players Ramkumar Ramanathan, Arjun Khade, and Prajnesh Gunneswaran could not make it past the first round.
(Avya Mathur)
