Grand Prix Hassan II: Yuki-Olivetti crashes out in semis to second seed

Yuki Bhambri and his French partner Albano Olivetti's good run ended in the semifinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II after a close three-setter loss to the second seeds Lucas Miedler and Alexander Erler of Austria on Friday.

The Indo-French pair bowed out, 5-7, 6-3, 7-10 after a tough fight at this ATP 250 event against the Austrian pair, who are amongst the top 20 pairing in ATP World Tour rankings 2024.

Earlier, they knocked out the third-seeded Brazilian-Colombian pairing of Nicolas Barrientos and Rafael Matos to enter the semifinals.

The first set was very closely poised but in the eleventh game, the Austrian pair won a breakpoint on Yuki's final serve of the set and took the early advantage in the match. After this, Bhambri and Olivetti made a remarkable comeback and won the second set, 6-3, to draw level.

The super tie-breaker was a very close contest but a silly mistake on the match point cost the match to Yuki and Olivetti and they exited the competition in the semifinal.

Despite the loss, this was a good start for this pairing as Bhambri and Olivetti joined hands for the first time this season. Yuki has played most of his season alongside Robin Haase of the Netherlands.

Balaji-Begemann lose in semis of ATP 250 Houston

N. Sriram Balaji and Andre Begemann suffered a semifinal exit at the Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, America after a hard-fought duel against fourth-seeded Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson of Australia on Saturday.

The Indo-German pairing lost the three-setter (7-6(5), 2-6, 3-10) match despite taking a lead after the first set at this ATP 250 event.

Balaji and Begemann started the match on a high note and took an early advantage with a win on tiebreaker in the first set, 7-6(5). But, they completely lost their momentum in the second set and went two breaks down.

The Australian pair took the second set comfortably 6-2 and forced a deciding super tie-breaker. The decider was no less to the second set as the Australians continued domination in the super tie-breaker and won it without giving a single mini-break, 10-3.

Balaji and Begemann had a good tournament after forcing that big upset in the first round against multiple Grand Slam champions Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek of the USA.