India's Rohan Bopanna alongside his Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi reached the quarterfinals of the US Open Mixed doubles on September 1. At Court 12, the duo got the better of John Peers and Kerina Siniakova. After losing the first set comprehensively, they won the match 0-6, 7-6(5), 10-7.
Bopanna and Sutjiadi were unimpressive in the first set. Peers and Siniakova broke the serve thrice and won the first set 6-0. Bopanna and Sutjiadi made a comeback in the second set and won the tie-breaker 7-5. In the third set they won 10-7 to book their berth in the quarterfinals.
Bopanna will go up against his men's doubles partner Matthew Ebden in the quarterfinal clash. Ebden has paired up with Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova. The two will take on each other on September 3.
However, before their clash, Bopanna and Ebden will lock horns with Argentina's Maximo Gonzalex and Andres Molteni in the pre-quarterfinals. In the second-round they beat Roberto Carballes Baena and Federico Coria in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. Earlier this year, Bopanna created history with Ebden with Australian Open title as he became the oldest player to win a Grand Slam title.
Bhambri in action
Earlier, India's Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti beat 15th-seeded Austin Krajicek and Jean-Julein Roger 4-5, 6-3, 7-5 to reach the men's doubles third round. This will be Bhambri's second appearance in third round at a Grand Slam event. The last time he progressed to the third round was in 2014 at the Australian Open.
Balaji exits but aims to get better
Earlier this week, N Sriram Balaji and his Argentine partner Guido Andreozzi crashed out of the tournament after losing 6-7 (4), 4-6 to Michael Venus and Neal Skupski in their second round match. Balaji chose to look at the positives despite his loss and vowed to get better.
"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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