N.Sriram Balaji/ Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan Thread

[prasen9]

[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) /N. Sriram Balaji (IND) l. (WC) Thiego Syboth Wild (BRA) / Matias Soto (CHI) 63 16 4-10

This is not fair. Syboth demanded a wild card because his name was Wild. And he was granted the Wild Card. Okay, that is fair. But, then the deal therein is that he should have been wild in the quarters and he failed to uphold his part of the bargain. Someone should sue him for fraudulent advertising. Wild cards should be only given to truly wild players not chameleons.

[jayakris]

^^^ ... Maybe be he rode in on a motorbike with a Steppenwolf jacket and they had to give him a wildcard. He was born to be wild...

[prasen9]

And, now we will have a box-office hit movie, "Born Wild" that captures all of that since his birth in Africa in the jungles

[sameerph]

Bala and Jeevan have got a tough draw in Marrakech.

At Marrakech ATP 250, Morroco (Clay)

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) /N. Sriram Balaji (IND) vs. (1) Marcel Granollers (ESP) /Matwe Middelkoop (NED)

Looks like next week they will have to play one of the challengers in Europe and then they are 2 out from both Banja Luka and Munich ATP 250's the week after. Hope they make it to one of those places.

[Dinesh]

BalaJee is up a set but the match is interrupted due to rain. Hope they keep up the winning form. 6-4 2-2.

[sameerph]

And they complete an excellent upset win .

At Marrakech ATP 250, Morroco (Clay)

[R1] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) /N. Sriram Balaji (IND) d. (1) Marcel Granollers (ESP) /Matwe Middelkoop (NED) 64 76(1)

They play their QF later today.

[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) /N. Sriram Balaji (IND) vs. Tallon Griekspoor (NED) / Botic van de Zandschulp (NED)

[jayakris]

El excelente! ... Big upset win. Balaji moves up a bit to #86, career high. Jeevan to #83 but he was as high as #64 once.

[Dinesh]

Good to see BalaJee continued their winning momentum. Their QF opponents played a 3-set singles match earlier today, so I either expect them to give a walkover (one of them is still in the singles draw) or lose in straight sets. Let’s go, BalaJee!!!

[jayakris]

They are playing the QF. Our guys down a break early in the first set at 0-2.

Update: They broke back immediately to 3-3 and then won the first set 76(3)

[Dinesh]

BalaJee takes the first set tie-breaker 7-3. Great composure from them after losing a service game early on. Let’s go!!

[jayakris]

Just like that they dropped serve in the final game of the second set (after neither team faced a BP in the second set till then). Now an STB

[Dinesh]

10-8 in the MTB

[jayakris]

Yay! When Balaji double faulted at 6-4 in the STB and threw away a mini-break advantage, I thought they had screwed themselves up. But no. They came through!!

[QF] Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND) /N. Sriram Balaji (IND) vs. Tallon Griekspoor (NED) / Botic van de Zandschulp (NED), 76(3) 46 [10-8]

[sameerph]

Another very good win. This pair of BalaJee have been able to get wins against even higher level pairs and do better at higher level events even more than Yuki-Saki. They are not as consistent at challenger level like Yuki-Saki but at ATP level they seem to have better results. Their third ATP semi final of the year ( one of which tournament they went to the final) out of the 5 tournaments. They also made the AO second round which can be considered equal to ATP 250 Semi final . So, 4 out of 6 SF level performances at ATP level tournaments which is a very good success ratio.

Jeevan at 78 and Bala at career high of 82 in live rankings. Getting close to grand slam main draw.

[jayakris]

Yeah, I am also beginning to think that BalaJeevan may have little bit of higher potential than Yuki-Saki. Jeevan is almost Leander-like at times in what he can do, and Balaji is almost Mahesh-like in his strengths too. Okay, maybe a poor man's versions of LP and MB, but that is still pretty damn good. They are a tough team because of the court coverage abilities they have. Not easy to figure out some chinks in the armor and attack it.