Chennai Open 2025: Defending champions Ramkumar-Saketh into the finals

Chennai: Indian men's doubles duo Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni moved one step closer to a second consecutive Chennai Open ATP Challenger title with a hard-fought 7-6(5), 7-6(8) win over top seeds Ray Ho and Matthew Christopher Romios on Friday evening.

The Indian duo had their hands full in the contest, being forced to save a set point in the second set tiebreak before emerging winners on their third match point.

Ramkumar and Saketh had a run for their money in their semifinals against the top-seeded Ray and Romios, who pulled things back from being 2-4 down in the first set to level it at 6-6.

In the tiebreaker, the Indian duo prevailed, winning 7-5 and took a 1-0 lead.

The second set also saw the same scenario being repeated but in the tiebreaker Ray and Romios took a commanding 5-1 lead. The home favourites, however, did not give up.

From being 1-5 down, they took the next five points to make it 6-5 but the Taiwanese-Aussie pair too fought back.

At 8-8, Ramkumar and Saketh took the next two points, winning the match and advancing to the final in what was an exhilarating semifinals.

They will face Shintaro Mochizuki and Kaito Uesugi in the finals tomorrow, looking to make it two Chennai Open wins in a row.

Jeevan-Vijay bow out

Meanwhile, the second-seeded Indian duo of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth went down 6-4, 4-6, 6-10 in a match tiebreak to Shintaro Mochizuki and Kaito Uesugi in the other semi-final.

After the Indians won the first set 6-4, the all-Japanese pair won the second set by the same score line and then won the deciding match super tiebreak 10-6 to advance to the final.