The Indian challenge in doubles at the Tata Open Maharashtra came to an end in the semifinals on Friday as Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan went down to the French pair of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Gilles Simon.
The unseeded Indian duo, who had stunned top seeds Robert Lindstedt and Franko Skugor a day before, were found wanting when it came to converting break points as they lost 4-6, 6-7 (2), squandering as many as eight break chances in the second set and 11 overall. The strong serve and return combo of Herbert and Simon proved too much for the Indians in the end.
The French pair took an early lead as they broke Sharan in his first service game. A lob from Simon at back of the baseline put the Indians down 15-40 and Sharan double faulted on second break chance.
Simon’s serve came under pressure in the second set but Herbert, winner of US Open in 2015 and Wimbledon in 2016 in the doubles, was as good at the net as he was from the baseline.
But after going down 0-3, the Indians then settled down and started countering. They played through a 16-shot rally in the next game to hold and then began targeting Simon’s serve to get an edge. This gave them a breakpoint in the seventh game. Two service return winners, one each by Sharan and Bhambri, ensured that the game got back on serve.
However, Sharan, when serving to stay in the set, got broken again as they surrendered the first set.
In the second set, the home team had a great chance to get early break when Sharan found service return winner off Simon at 30-30 in the third game but they could not convert with Simon finding a forehand winner after a superb rally with Bhambri. On the deuce point, Bhambri hit a backhand long.
The home team continued to squander chances in the second set, even as they held their serve. Simon served a double fault at 30-all in the seventh game but the Indians could not utilise the chance. Simon again went down 0 -40 in the 11th game following a flurry of unforced errors but Bhambri and Sharan fluffed all four chances.
Under pressure, Sharan and Bhambri saved a match point on former’s serve in the next. However, they couldn’t sustain their form in the tiebreak. There were some loose points athe crucial juncture with Bhambri double faulting and then netting a volley. Herbert and Simon were also sharper on their returns, placing their shots right between the two Indians.
Simon, who earlier shocked top seed Marin Cilic in singles semi-final, will be playing two finals on Saturday. After the summit clash against Kevin Anderson, he and Herbert will take on second seeded Dutch pair of Matwe Middelkoop and Robin Haase, who defeated Czech team of Jiri Vesley and Roma Jebavy 6-2, 6-4 in the other last four clash.
With inputs from PTI
