Melbourne: After winning the opening round, India's N Sriram Balaji and his Romanian partner Victor Vlad Cornea lost to El Salvador's Marcelo Arevalo and Croatia's Mate Pavic in two consecutive sets in the second round of men's doubles in the Australian Open here on Friday. The Indo-Romanian combo went down 3-6 3-6 to their 10th-seeded opponents at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. With this defeat, the Balaji-Cornea pair have been knocked out of the first major of the year.
Earlier, 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.
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.
More to follow...
