Balaji and Oberleitner Bow Out of Australian Open
Melbourne: Indian N Sriram Balaji and his Austrian partner Neil Oberleitner, who participated in the Australian Open men’s doubles draw as reserve pair, were eliminated in the second round after their consecutive defeat here on Saturday. Balaji and Oberleitner moved up to fourth place, trailing 5-7 and 1-6. El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo and Croatia’s Mate Pavic, who proved very strong on the exhibition courts at Melbourne Park with their consistency and big match experience.
The Indo-Austrian duo fought hard in the opening set but were unable to convert key moments, allowing the experienced Arevalo-Pavic combination to take control before racing back to close out the match in the second set.
Meanwhile, another Indian played in the men’s doubles; Yuki Bhambri and his Swedish partner Andre Goransson, seeded 10th, saw their second-round matches postponed due to the tournament’s extreme heat policy.
With Bhambri and Goransson trailing 4-6 and 2-2 against the unseeded duo of Santiago Gonzalez and David Pel, play was stopped and the match will resume later according to Australian Open rules.
