Melbourne:The duo of India's N Sriram Balaji and his Romanian partner Victor Vlad Cornea emerged victorious against the Italian pair Matteo Arnaldi and Andrea Pellergrino in two straight sets and advanced to the second round of the Australian Open here on Friday.
Balaji and Cornea, who came into the tournament as an alternate pair showcased their chemistry and skill on the court, defeating the Italian pair by 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the men's double of the first major event of the year.
The 33-year-old Indian and the 30-year-old Romanian rank 79th and 69th in ATP doubles ranking respectively and will square off against tenth seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia in the next round.
It is only the second instance when Balaji has progressed to the second round of the Australian Open after he and fellow Indian Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan qualified in last year's Slam. Overall, this is the third time Balaji has entered the second round of a Grand Slam. Earlier, he had progressed to the second round of the Wimbledon 2018 with fellow Indian Vishnu Vardhan.
On the other hand, Second-seeded Indo-Australian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden barely broke a sweat in a straight-set victory over local hopes John Millman and Edward Winter to enter the men's doubles third round of the Australian Open on Friday. Bopanna and Ebden strolled past the wildcards 6-2, 6-4 in a second-round match at Court 3 that lasted a little over one hour..
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