India’s Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti advanced to the men’s doubles third round of the US Open with a hard-fought win over 15th seeds Austin Krajicek and Jean-Julien Roger in New York. The Indo-French pair defeated the USA-Dutch team 4-6 6-3 7-5 in the second round that lasted two hours and five minutes on Friday. This is only the second time that Bhambri has reached the third round at a Grand Slam, having reached the same stage at the Australian Open back in 2014.

Second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden also moved to third round with a 6-2 6-4 win over Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena and Federico Coria from Argentina.

Bopanna also won in the mixed doubles with Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi. Seeded eighth, they won 7-6 (7) 7-6 (5) against Germany’s Tim Puetz and Dutch player Demi Schuurs in the opening round.

However, another Indian in the fray, N Sriram Balaji and his Argentine partner Guido Andreozzi exited the US Open after losing to Michael Venus of New Zealand and Neal Skupski of Great Britain.

The Indo-Argentine pair lost 6-7 (4), 4-6 in the second-round match that featured just one break of serve in the second set.

In total, Venus and Skupski received seven break points, and converted one, while Balaji and Andreozzi failed to capitalise on their lone opportunity for a service break.

“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.

India’s doubles players made a promising start at the US Open with Davis Cupper N Sriram Balaji and Yuki Bhambri progressing to the men’s doubles second round with their respective partners in New York. Balaji, who has been doing well of late, and his Argentine partner Guido Andreozzi overcame a one-set deficit to beat New Zealand’s Marcus Daniell and Mexico’s Miguel Reyes-Varela 5-7 6-1 7-6 (12-6) in a close contest that lasted two hours and 36 minutes. Balaji had impressed at the French Open too where he and Reyes-Varela had stretched Bopanna and Matthew Ebden in a gruelling contest on clay.

A good run at the US Open, before the Davis Cup tie against Sweden, will be ideal preparation for Balaji, who will enter the rubber as the country’s main doubles player.

“It was a close match. Especially my partner and Micky were ex partners and it was mentally not easy for him. We lost a close first set where we had couple of break chances and we couldn’t convert.

“Final set we were serving for the match and the momentum shifted. I’m happy that we stayed strong and pulled it off,” Balaji told PTI.

Bhambri, who has opted out of the tie, and his French partner Albano Olivetti also advanced with a 6-3 6-4 win over local wildcards Ryan Seggerman and Patrik Trhac.

“It was a good clinical performance. Playing Americans in their home slam can get tricky but once we had the lead we put our foot down and played consistently,” said Bhambri.

They will next take on the American-Dutch combination of Austin Krajicek and Jean-Julien Rojer in the second round.

Second seeds Bopanna and Ebden will open their campaign on Thursday.