Tennis
French Open: Sriram Balaji's best-ever Grand Slam run ends in quarterfinals
He, partnering with Brazil's Marcelo Demoliner, lost in straight sets to the second-seeded pair.
Sriram Balaji exits in quarterfinals of French Open 2026. (Photo Credits: ATP)
N. Sriram Balaji's best-ever Grand Slam run ends in the quarterfinals of the 2026 French Open at Stade Roland Garros in Paris on Wednesday.
He, partnering with Brazil's Marcelo Demoliner, lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to the second-seeded Finnish-British pair of Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten.
This was his first-ever quarterfinal at this stage, but he could not offer much challenge to the in-form pairing, ending India's campaign at the tournament.
The match started solidly with all four players producing strong serving. However, the Indo-Brazilian pair lost their first break in the eighth game and went on to lose the first set 3-6.
They failed to recover from the early setback in the second set and struggled badly on serve, conceding two breaks and losing momentum completely.
The pair had a brief chance of a comeback after winning their first break of the match in the eighth game of the second set, but Harri-Henry played a perfect final game to win the match.
India suffered another disappointment as Aarav Paparkar failed to maintain his strong form and crashed out in the third round of the boys’ singles, losing to USA’s fourth seed, Jack Kennedy, 5-7, 2-6.