N Sriram Balaji thread

[sameerph]

They win the first round match.

At Gstaad Open ATP 250 (Clay)

[R1] N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Zhizhen Zhang (CHN) d. Constantin Frantzen (GER) / Hendrik Jebens (GER) 76(5) 76(3)

Their QF opponents to be decided but likely to be top seeded pairing of Demoliner and Middlekoop.

[Dinesh]

[R1] N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Zhizhen Zhang (CHN) 7-6 7-6 Constantin Frantzen (GER) / Hendrik Jebens (GER)

[sameerph]

Bala and Zhang put up a very good fight but lost a very close one against top seeds.

At Gstaad Open ATP 250 (Clay)

[QF] N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Zhizhen Zhang (CHN) l. (1) Marcelo Demoliner (BRA) / Matwe Middlekoop (NED) 46 64 10-12

[sameerph]

Balaji with his Brazilian partner Romboli has reached the final at big challenger in Spain.

At Seville Challenger 125, Spain (Clay)

[R1] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Fernando Romboli (BRA) d. Geoffrey Blancaneaux (FRA) / Calvin Hemery (FRA) 64 64
[QF] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Fernando Romboli (BRA) d. Alex Lawson (USA) / Eero Vasa (FIN) 63 62
[SF] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Fernando Romboli (BRA) d. (1) Sadio Doumbia (FRA) /Fabien Reboul (FRA) 64 76(4)

That is a very good win in the SF over a pair where both are ranked inside top 50 and reached French open third round beating Bops-Ebden on the way.

Next,

[F] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Fernando Romboli (BRA) vs. Alberto Barroso Campos (ESP) /Pedro Martinez (ESP)

[sameerph]

They lost in a close final.

[F] (4) N.Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Fernando Romboli (BRA) l. Alberto Barroso Campos (ESP) /Pedro Martinez (ESP) 63 67(5) 9-11

With 2 consecutive challenger finals, Balaji will move up to #88 in ATP doubles rankings.

[jayakris]

Balaji with three titles in the latest 4 events!

Last month he won the $125K Bratislava challenger with Andre Begemann (GER), and last week, he won the $75 Ismaling challenger in Germany, ... The scores are in the European Challangers thread.

This week, Balaji won the $125K Helsinki challenger title with Andre Begemann (GER)... The scores are the the Helsinki challenger thread.

Another career high ranking for him. He is #71 in live rankings now.

[Dinesh]

Brisbane ATP 250:

R1 Sriram Balaji/Victor Vlad Cornea vs Grigor Dimitrov/Sebastian Korda

[sameerph]

They lost in first round after winning the first set.

At Brisbane ATP 250:

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND) /Victor Vlad Cornea (ROM) l. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) / Sebastian Korda (USA) 62 57 4-10

[jayakris]

Just for the record, last week, Balaji and Andre Begemann were at the Challenger 75 in Rome, and won a round over Niokola Cacic (SRB) and Bart Stevens (NED) 63 64, but lost to Luke Johnson (GBR) and Skander Mansouri (TUN) 67(6) 76(6) [3-10] in the QF

[Dinesh]

Balaji is partnering grand slam champion Nicolas Mahut at the Geneva ATP 250 event.

[jattukarthik]

Balaji / Mahut has withdrawn from Geneva Open and has been replaced by Nouza/Machac. Any idea on why they have withdrawn ? Any injury scare to Balaji ?

[sameerph]

^^^ No. As per ATP website neck injury to Mahut. He won a big challenger title last week, so would have wanted to rest for a week I guess. Unfortunate for Balaji.

[Sin Hombre]

Bops has asked to partner Balaji at the Olympics. Good for Bala.

[prashanthm]

That would be a gud combination. Great recognition to the gud performances by Bala...

[arjun2761]

I don't know if they have played together before but style wise Balaji is probably the best partner for Rohan (rather than Yuki). Hopefully, they will play a couple of tournaments together before the Olympics and Balaji's ranking is now high enough that they should be able to play regular ATP events as their practice tournament(s).