Indian pair of N Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan pulled off an upset win at the fifth edition of the Tata Open Maharashtra, beating the No 2 seed American duo of Jackson Withrow and Nathaniel Lammons 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) in the doubles quarterfinals at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Thursday.
Balaji and Jeevan, who entered the tournament as an alternative entry, put up a sensational show in both the sets which saw close competition before they decided in the tie-breakers.
The USA pair consisted of Withrow, World No 49 and Lammons, ranked 46 in the world, gave their all to take the match into the final tie-breaker but the Indians did enough to get the result in their favour at the end of the second set.
Balaji and Jeevan had ended 2022 with six successive semi-finals appearances at the Challenger events.
Later, India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan lost in the doubles quarter-finals alongside Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela. The duo bowed out against top-seeded pair of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 2-6, 1-6.
Meanwhile, the 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic pulled out of the singles event after suffering a knee injury as his opponent, Tallon Griekspoor was given a walkover.
Tennis, Maharashtra Open: Marin Cilic withdraws due to knee injury ahead of quarterfinal clash
In the other singles quarter-final, No. 8 Aslan Karatsev pulled off a dominating 6-1, 6-2 victory against the World No. 63 Pedro Martinez.
The on-going edition of South Asia’s only ATP 250 event is being conducted by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association in association with the Government of Maharashtra for the fifth year in Pune.