Indian tennis duo N Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan he got angry at Maharashtra Open 2023 advance to the doubles quarterfinals by finishing first in singles Marcin Cilic withdrew due to a knee injury at Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Thursday.
Balaji and Jeevan put on a sensational show in both sets where they competed in tie-breaks, defeating Jackson Withrow and Nathaniel Lammons 7-6(6), 7-6(5).
The all-American duo with world No. 49 Jackson Withrow and world No. 46 Nathaniel Lammons gave it their all to take the match to the final tie-break, but the Indians did enough to get the score in their favor at the end of the second set.
On Friday, Balaji and Jeevan will face Julian Cash and Henry Patten from England in the semi-finals. They are the only ones Indian tennis players still in contention at the ongoing ATP 250 event.
Meanwhile, 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic of Croatia withdrew from the singles tournament after injuring his knee when his opponent Tallon Griekspoor was forfeited.
“I’m very sorry I couldn’t start again today,” said Cilic. “Today I injured my knee while warming up and unfortunately it didn’t get better until I went out on the court.”
In another singles quarterfinal, world No. 8 Aslan Karatsev scored a dominant 6-1, 6-2 victory over Pedro Martinez.
Later, India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan lost in the doubles quarterfinals to his Mexican partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela. The duo lost 6-2, 6-1 to top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
The Indian singles campaign has already ended after Ramkumar Ramanathan, Mukund Sasikumar, Sumit Nagal and teenager Manas Dhamne lost their opening matches in the main draw.
