N Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan of India defeated Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-4 to go to the second round of the 2023 Australian Open.
JEEVAN / BALA STUN FRENCH OPEN FINALISTS!
Indian Doubles Dream going strong as our team stunned No. 5 seeds Austin Krajicek / Ivan Dodig 7-6 2-6 6-4 to move into R2.
Austin was the doubles partner of Jeevan in 2018 and played against I Dodig at the ATP Chengdu Open final! pic.twitter.com/WOyx00LyxS
— Indian Tennis Daily (ITD) (@IndTennisDaily) January 21, 2023
This is the only Indian-membered men’s doubles team that has advanced to the second round.
In the second round, they will play the French duo of Jeremy Chady and Fabrice Martin.
The couple from Tamil Nadu placed second at the fifth edition of the Tata Open Maharashtra this year, losing to the fourth-seeded duo of Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.
Jeevan achieved considerable success partnering Rohan Bopanna and, later, Vishnu Vardhan. Jeevan, though, has found luck with a childhood companion.
“We have been close friends since elementary school, and there is a great deal of mutual regard amongst our families as well. We keep together during difficult times so that the good times can occur. “It’s great to play with him,” says Jeevan.
