Balaji and Oberleitner bow out of Australian Open

Melbourne, Jan 24 (PTI) India’s N Sriram Balaji and his Austrian partner Neil Oberleitner, who entered the Australian Open men’s doubles draw as an alternate pair, bowed out in the second round after a straight-sets loss here on Saturday.

Balaji and Oberleitner went down 5-7, 1-6 to fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Croatia’s Mate Pavic, who proved too strong with their consistency and big-match experience on the show courts at Melbourne Park.

The Indo-Austrian pair fought hard in the opening set but were unable to convert key moments, allowing the seasoned Arevalo-Pavic combination to take control before they raced through the second set to seal the contest.

Meanwhile, another Indian was in action in the men’s doubles, with Yuki

Bhambri and his 10th-seeded Swedish partner Andre Goransson seeing their second-round match suspended due to the tournament’s extreme heat policy.

Bhambri and Goransson were trailing 4-6, 2-2 against the unseeded pairing of Santiago Gonzalez and David Pel when play was halted, with the match set to resume later as per Australian Open regulations. PTI APS APS UNG