N Sriram Balaji thread

[sameerph]

Bala lost after a decent fight.

At the Challenger 80 in Ambato, Ecuador (Clay)

[R1]l (Q) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,1449) .(7) Miljan Zekic (SRB,245) 64 67(9)

[Omkara]

Good fight. Bala has a good serve.

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 80 in Ambato, Ecuador (Clay)

[R1] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) d. Cayetano March (ECU)/ Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva (BRA), 62 76(3)
and then they got a walkover too!
[QF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) d. Andres Andrade (ECU)/ Tristan McCormick (USA), walkover.

So they are in the semis. The third seeds in their half of the draw had withdrawn early and were replaced by Alternates, so they should have an unseeded opponent in the semifinal as well. Good, good. Keep going.

[jayakris]

[SF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l. Santiago Rodriguez Taverna (ARG)/ Thiago Agustin Tirante (ARG), 67(2) 46

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 80 in Lima, Peru (Clay)

[R1] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Jan Choinski (GBR)/ Karol Drzewiecki (POL)

[jayakris]

A tight win at Lima...

[R1] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) d. Jan Choinski (GBR)/ Karol Drzewiecki (POL), 75 46 [11-9]
so,
[QF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Nikola Milojevic (SRB)/ Miljan Zekic (SRB)

[jayakris]

[QF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) d. Nikola Milojevic (SRB)/ Miljan Zekic (SRB), 64 62
so
[SF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Jesper de Jong (NED)/ Max Houkes (NED) ~4:00 pm FRIDAY

[jayakris]

Oh baby, what a tough loss in the end, after I am sure both teams had several match points in the STB...

At the Challenger 80 in Lima, Peru (Clay)

[SF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l. Jesper de Jong (NED)/ Max Houkes (NED), 26 64 [13-15]

[jayakris]

I should have started a south american challenger thread, I guess? Anyway,

At the Challenger 80 in Quayaquil, Ecuador (Clay):

[Q1] (Alt) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,1140) vs (10) Tomas Lipovsek Puches (ARG,308), Monday

[R1] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs Francisco Comesana (ARG)/Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo (ESP)

[jayakris]

[Q1] (Alt) N.Sriram Balaji (IND,1140) l. (10) Tomas Lipovsek Puches (ARG,308), 57 75 46

I saw the ending of the match. Balaji saved 7 BPs on him at 4-4 in the third, only to fall in the end and get broken. He also saved a match point in the end with some all-court play but couldn't pull things off. He has so much of skills but has the issue I was talking about just earlier today in Mukund's match, that he is also extremely unsteady in hitting a high ball, especially overheads and lobs. He lost 3 or 4 such shots, hitting long or into the net in the final couple of games.

It is EVERY Indian these days. Any of you watching Indians' matches, just pay attention. They are all good with low balls but they get a lob or a loopy shot and has sufficient time to position themselves for a winner, they don't know what to do. They should all watch Mahesh Bhupathi tapes and the mechanics of hitting an overhead or a highball return.

Anyway, I felt sad that Balaji played so well on so many points. Some of his reflex shots at the net were exemplary too. Soft hands when needed, and good ball placement instincts on rallies. It is when he had time to position himself and hit an easy shot that he often made an error. Oh well.

[jayakris]

At the Quayaquil Challenger 80 (Ecuador):

[R1] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) d. Francisco Comesana (ARG)/ Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo (ESP), 26 75 [10-7]

They could only convert 1 of the first 7 break points they got, while the opponents went 3 of 6 or something, and that is basically why they were down. Played well at the end of the second set and in the STB, like the tops seeds are supposed to do!

They will play the QF on Thursday evening against opponents to be determined after a noon-time match.

[Dinesh]

Our pair just won the first set 6-2. Bring it on!!!

[jayakris]

At the Quayaquil Challenger 80 (Ecuador):

[QF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) d. Eduardo Ribeiro (ARG)/ Thiago Seyboth Wild (ARG), 62 64
so
[SF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) vs (4) Facundo Diaz Acosta (ARG)/ Luis David Martinez (VEN)

[jayakris]

Our pair is down 4-6 0-0 in the SF... Balaji making too many mistakes today. They had broken to get back on serve at 4-5 but then dropped serve again to lose the set.

With Balaji continuing to make mistakes and not come up with anything great today, the writing was on the wall. Jeevan was quite solid and was doing his job, I thought... Bit not enough.

[SF] (1) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) l. (4) Facundo Diaz Acosta (ARG)/ Luis David Martinez (VEN), 46 57

That finishes another horrible week. We had, what, some 3 or 4 teams who were top seeds and only one made a semi and nobody made a final

[sameerph]

Looks like Jeevan pulled out of Gstaad open where they had got in as a pair with Balaji due to injury. But, luckily Bala got in with another partner.

At Gstaad Open ATP 250 (Clay)

[R1] N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Zhizhen Zhang (CHN) vs. Constantin Frantzen (GER) / Hendrik Jebens (GER)