N Sriram Balaji thread

[sameerph]

Rohan did mention that they will play tournaments together after Wimbledon. There are 2 weeks of clay tournaments post Wimbledon, Hambrug 500 / Baastad 250/ Gastaad 250 in first week and Kirzubel/Umag 250 week after that. So, Rohan/Bala will mostly play these 2 weeks before olympics.

[jayakris]

The news has been out for a couple of days, as above, but let me just leave the agency news article in the newspapers here. AITA has the final word on it, but they seem to have no intention of going against Bopanna's call - which is the right approach by AITA.

Rohan Bopanna chooses N Sriram Balaji as partner for Paris Olympics

In my opinion, they have a fighting chance for a medal. Maybe an 8.33 percent chance (to use in our Olympics medal tally predictions). I consider them to be among the top 12 or so teams, I guess. They won't get seeded in the top 8... But they have a chance. Hope they finish at least top-8 with at least 2 wins.

[indiansportsfan]

8.33% should just be the chance for the Gold then, if they are amongst the top 12. Chance for a medal should be higher.

[jayakris]

^^^ It's my estimate of the chance for just a medal. The chance for a gold is like 2 percent ... Some of the other teams will have more than 10 or 15% chance (like Bolelli/Vavassori, Gille/Vliegen, Krawietz/Puetz, etc) for a medal, and they also will have lower chances for a Gold. It all depends on which countries' top-50 singles players will play doubles, also. Some of them are very good and would top many of the current doubles toppers, if they were to play doubles seriously.

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 125 in Perugia, ITA (Clay)

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Andre Begemann (GER) d. (ALT) Jesper de Jong (NED)/ Ryan Nijboer (NED), 76(5) 63

They play the QF also later today, against 3rd seeds Luis David Martinez (VEN)/ Cristian Rodriguez (COL)

[sameerph]

They are thru to the SF with an upset over third seeds.

At the Challenger 125 in Perugia, ITA (Clay)

[QF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Andre Begemann (GER) d. (3) Luis David Martinez (VEN)/ Cristian Rodriguez (COL) 75 63

Balaji is now upto #61 in live rankings.

Next,

[SF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Andre Begemann (GER) vs. (WC) Federico Cina (ITA) / Francesco Maestrelli (ITA)

[prashanthm]

Bala/Begemann are through to the finals....

Perugia Ch125, ITA (Clay)

[SF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Andre Begemann (GER) d. (WC) Federico Cina (ITA) / Francesco Maestrelli (ITA) 63 36 10-6

[jayakris]

Balaji stays at a #61 live ranking after today's win. Can move up to #59 with a title, but will get pushed down to #62 by Andreozzi right behind him, if Bala loses to him tomorrow!

[jayakris]

Balaji/Begemann dropped serve in the first game, and after that there were no further BPs in the set as points finished quickly all through the set. In the 10th game with the other guys serving, Balaji had an incredible return point for them to jump ahead to 15-30... But an umpire over-rule (and refusal to replay the point, as Begemann argued) and then an iffy ace call at 40-40 SP/BP (the ump would not even check the mark!) finished the set... 46 00 down in the final.

Update: They broke back twice from breaks down, at 1-2 and 2-3 in the second set, but could not survive the next break at 5-5... Still saved two match pts at 5-6, 15-40 and 30-40 and had a BP at deuce but the other guys converted it. The opponents were simply better today and Andreozzi played at a higher level and totally mistake-free all match. Nothing much that Bala-Beg could do. 46 57 Loss.

At the Challenger 125 in Perugia, ITA (Clay)

[SF] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Andre Begemann (GER) l. (1) Guido Andreozzi (ARG)/ Miguel Reyes-Varela (MEX), 46 57

[sameerph]

Nonetheless, Bala will be at new career high ranking of #62 on Monday. He should comfortably make the main draw at Wimbledon and ATP 250 tournaments after that now, maybe not with Begemann but with some other player ranked in top 70.

As of now, he has chosen 64th ranked Luke Johnson of GBR for grass season as partner. They will be Ilkley Challenger next week, than probably Mallorca ATP 250 where they are 2 out from main draw and mostly together at Wimbledon thereafter.

[jayakris]

I guess we forgot to report Balaji's outing with Luke Johnson (GBR) at the Challenger 125 in Ilkley, UK (Grass) three weeks ago. Just for the record, they beat Jeevan and VSP, 63 75 and went down in the QF to Marcus Daniell (NZL) and Matwe Middelkoop (NED), 67(3) 46.

[jayakris]

Balaji is having a good run at the ATP CH125 at Braunschweig, GER (Clay) this week.

[R1] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Gonzalo Escobar (ECU) d. Boris Arias (BOL)/ Federico Zeballos (BOL), 63 60
[QF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Gonzalo Escobar (ECU) d. Marcelo Demoliner (BRA)/ Guillermo Duran (ARG), 64 62
[SF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Gonzalo Escobar (ECU) d. (4) Matwe Middelkoop (NED)/ Denys Molchanov (UKR), 63 76(3)
[F] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Gonzalo Escobar (ECU) vs (2) Sander Arends (NED)/ Robin Haase (NED), Saturday

Balaji is back to the career high of #62 in live rankings. He can move a couple of spots up with a win tomorrow.

[sameerph]

He lost in a close final.

At the ATP CH125 at Braunschweig, GER (Clay)

[F] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Gonzalo Escobar (ECU) l. (2) Sander Arends (NED)/ Robin Haase (NED) 64 46 8-10

Anyway, he is back to his career best of 62.

On to Hamburg and Umag ATP tournaments for next 2 weeks with Bops. He has 45 points to defend next week, nothing after that till September. So, he can move up in next couple of month with some good results at ATP level.

[jayakris]

Balaji/Bops get Reboul/Roger-Vasselin (FRA) first and if they advance the 2nd seeds Krawietz/Pütz (GER)

Further discussions on Olympics tennis will be in the Tennis at Paris Olympics thread

[sameerph]

Balaji is playing with a new partner this week and has reached the final at Santo Domingo Challenger getting lucky with 2 walkovers.

At Santo Domingo Challenger 125, Dominican Republic (Green Clay)

[R1] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) / Fernando Romboli (BRA) d. Dmitry Popko (KAZ) / Camilo Ugo Carabelli (ARG) Walkover

[QF] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) / Fernando Romboli (BRA) d. Marcelo Demoliner (BRA) / Marcelo Zormann (BRA) 36 61 10-8

[SF] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) / Fernando Romboli (BRA) d. Andres Andrade ( ECU) / Liam Draxl (CAN) Walkover

Next,

[F] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND) / Fernando Romboli (BRA) vs. (2) Diego Hidalgo (ECU) / Miguel Reyes-Varela (MEX)