Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan continued with their fine run, saved a match point and made the doubles final of the €127,000 Challenger in Germany, as they scored a thrilling 4-6, 7-6(5), 12-10 victory over wildcards Nicola Kuhn and Casper Ruud on Friday.
In the final, the Indian pair, which was at home on the grass courts of Wimbledon, will challenge top seeds, Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands, on red clay.
Second seed Ankita Raina overcame a sedate start and a tricky situation, to overwhelm Han Na-Lae of Korea 1-6, 7-5, 6-0 for a berth in the final of the $25,000 ITF women’s event in Thailand.
The 25-year-old Ankita was a break down at 3-4 in the second set after losing the first, but found her way to attack the defensive player who offered very little pace with her serve and strokes.
Third seed Karman Kaur Thandi also overcame a mid-match slump to outwit Xun Fang Ying of China in three sets. National champion Mahak Jain went down in three sets in the semifinals in Indonesia, while Zeel Desai lost the doubles final with Akari Inoue of Japan in Hong Kong.
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The results:
€ 127,000 Challenger men, Braunschweig, Germany Doubles (semifinals): Sriram Balaji & Vishnu Vardhan bt Nicola Kuhn (Esp) & Casper Ruud (Nor) 4-6, 7-6(5), [12-10].
$75,000 Challenger men, Winnetka, US Doubles (quarterfinals): Austin Krajiccek (US) & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Hunter Johnson & Yates Johnson 6-4, 6-2.
$25,000 ITF women, Nonthaburi, Thailand Singles (semifinals): Ankita Raina bt Han Na-Lae (Kor) 1-6, 7-5, 6-0.
$15,000 ITF women, Hong Kong Doubles (final): Kwan Yau Ng & Ho Ching Wu (Hkg) bt Akari Inoue (Jpn) & Zeel Desai 6-4, 6-4.
$15,000 ITF women, Solo, Indonesia Singles (semifinals): Aldila Sutjiadi (Ina) bt Mahak Jain 7-6(0), 2-6, 6-3.
$25,000 ITF women, Tianjin, China Singles (quarterfinals): Karman Kaur Thandi bt Xun Fang Ying (Chn) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
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