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The Indian tennis pair of N Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan registered a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) win over the No. 2 seeded American pair Jackson Withrow-Nathaniel Lammons in the doubles quarter-finals at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Thursday in the fifth edition of the Maharashtra Open 2023.
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Balaji and Jeevan, who entered the tournament as alternate entries, produced sensational performances in both sets. Their performance saw a tight contest before the game turned into a tie-breaker. On the other hand, world No. 49 Jackson Withrow and world No. 46 Nathaniel Lammons gave it their all to take the match into the final tie-breaker. But the Indians did enough to swing the result in their favor at the end of the second set. Moreover, Balaji and Jeevan had made it to six consecutive semi-finals in the 2022 Challenger events. The Indian pair will face England's Julian Cash and Henry Patten in the semi-final on Friday. They are the only Indian tennis players still in the fray at the ongoing ATP 250 event.
Meanwhile, India's Ramkumar Ramanathan and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela, lost 2-6, 1-6 against Rajeev Ram-Joe Salisbury in the second doubles quarter-final. However, 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic pulled out of the singles event of the Maharashtra Open 2023. He injured a knee as his opponent Tallon Griekspoor was given a walkover.
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"Very sorry that I couldn't come out again today to compete. Today during the warm-up I injured my knee and unfortunately it didn't get better until I was about to go out on the court." Cilic said.
Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) organized the event in association with the Government of Maharashtra. In the other singles quarterfinal, No. 8 Aslan Karatsev won 6–1, 6–2 against world No. 63 Pedro Martinez.