Thrilling Victories Propel Indian Tennis Players to Advance in US Open

Indian tennis players Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti reach the third round of the US Open men's doubles. In another match, Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden also advance. Meanwhile, N Sriram Balaji and Guido Andreozzi exit after a second-round loss. Balaji reflects on his performance and future goals.

India's Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti advanced to the men's doubles third round of the US Open with a hard-fought victory over 15th seeds Austin Krajicek and Jean-Julien Roger.

The Indo-French duo triumphed over the USA-Dutch team by 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in a second-round match that lasted two hours and five minutes on Friday. This marks only the second time Bhambri has reached the third round at a Grand Slam, the first being at the Australian Open in 2014. Second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden also advanced to the third round, defeating Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena and Federico Coria from Argentina 6-2, 6-4.

Bopanna secured another win in the mixed doubles alongside Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi. Seeded eighth, they emerged victorious 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5) against Germany's Tim Puetz and Dutch player Demi Schuurs in their opening round. However, N Sriram Balaji and his Argentine partner Guido Andreozzi bowed out of the US Open after a second-round loss to Michael Venus of New Zealand and Neal Skupski of Great Britain, losing 6-7 (4), 4-6.

Reflecting on his performance, Balaji said, '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. 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 having a coach/trainer travel with me almost every other week, thanks to the doubles program.'

(With inputs from agencies.)