Dubai: India's Yuki Bhambri made his first men's doubles semifinals of the ATP 500 tour after he and his partner Robin Hasse upset third seeds Jamie Murray and Michael Venus in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships here on Thursday. Bhambri and his Dutch partner Hasse, who came through the qualifying round to earn a spot in the main draw, took one hour and 22 minutes to produce a remarkable performance to beat Britain's Murray and New Zealand's Venus 6-4, 7-6(1).
The first set turned out to be a tough task for the Indo-Dutch pair as the duo survive nine break points. Yuki broke the serve of the former world no.1 Jamie Murray on his first serve of the fixture to secure a win in the first set. The second set was a close affair with both the pair serving efficiently. The set went into a tiebreaker as a result. Yuki then showcased some excellent cross court shots to win three mini-breaks winning the set and match as a result.
In the semifinal to be played on Friday, Bhambri and Hasse will face the second-seeded pairing of Ivan Dodig (Croatia) and Austin Krajicek (USA).
However, there was disappointment in store for the Australian Open men's doubles winning pair of India's Rohan Bopanna and Australia's Matthew Ebden, who lost in the quarterfinals. The top-seeded pair of Bopanna and Ebden began well but their opponents, Uruguay's Ariel Behar and Czech Republic's Adam Pavlasek came from behind to emerge winners by 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 in a match lasting one hour and 11 minutes. Behar and Pavlasek made a late rally to win the final four points of their clash against the much-fancied duo of Bopanna and Ebden. (With agency inputs)
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