Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan put on a power-packed performance to enter the doubles semi-finals at the 2022 Tata Open Maharashtra at the Balewadi Stadium on Thursday.
The star Indian pair won the last-8 match by defeating Austrian Alexander Erler and Czech Jiri Vesely 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4).
Bopanna and Ramkumar, playing their second ATP event together in the fourth edition of South Asia’s only ATP 250 tournament, which is organized by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association, won the first set in a tie-breaker.
After a difficult opening set, the second also saw an intense fight, as both the pairs looked aggressive in their approach and were not allowing the opponents to extend the lead as the score was locked at 5-5 before eventually going into the set. went. tie breaker.
Chennai-born Ramkumar did great service to put himself ahead and then veteran doubles player Bopanna made a spectacular comeback to level 5-4 to seal the match comfortably.
He will now face Sadio Doumbia and Fabian Reboul in the semi-finals. The French pair advanced to the last-4 with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 win over Federico Gio and Lorenzo Musetti.
Another Indian pair of N Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan will also feature in the semi-finals when their opponents Gianluca Mager and Emil Rusuvuri withdrew from the last eight matches due to prior injury. The Indian pair, who entered the main draw as an alternate, defeated compatriots Arjun Kadhe and Purav Raja 6-1, 6-4 in the first round played late on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Yuki Bhambri suffered a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Stefano Travaglia in his second round singles match. The Indian gave his all to extend his comeback in Pune, but the world number 93 Italian kept his control throughout the game and secured a place in the last-8 as well.
Defending champion Wesley, who received a bye in the first round, began his campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Bernabé Zapata Miralles. Sixth-seeded Emil Rusuvuori also had an easy outing against qualifier Wit Kopriev, winning 6-3, 6-3 during a losing last-16 contest.
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