India’s N Sriram Balaji and his Mexican partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela progressed to the second round of the ongoing Australian Open 2025 with a dominating win in straight sets over Robin Haase and Aleksandr Nedovyesov on Thursday (Jan 16).
The Indo-Mexican duo beat the Dutch-Kazakh pair 6-4, 6-3 in their opening men’s doubles match. The match lasted just over an hour. Balaji and Reyes-Varela hit 23 winners as opposed to their opponents’ 16, showcasing consistency and firepower.
Meanwhile, Rithvik Bollipalli became the third Indian to exit the men’s doubles event, following Rohan Bopanna and Yuki Bhambri.
Bollipalli and his American partner Ryan Seggerman lost 6-7, 1-6 to the sixth-seeded pair of Finland's Harri Heliovaara and the UK's Henry Patten.
Alex, Raducanu advance to next round
Meanwhile, World number eight Alex de Minaur cruised to the third round of the Australian Open after defeating American qualifier Tristan Boyer 6-2, 6-4, and 6-3. De Minaur will now be facing Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo, seeded 31st in the competition.
Emma Raducanu was all smiles as she soaked up the applause from a supportive Aussie crowd earlier.
The Brit defeated Amanda Anisimova in straight sets, 6-3, and 7-5 to reach Round 3 at the Australian Open for the first time. Looking ahead, Raducanu will now face Iga Świątek in the next round, and she says she has nothing to lose.
Earlier in the day, former Wimbledon women’s singles champion Elena Rybakina reached the third round of the Australian Open 2025 as she continued her hunt for the title Down Under.
Runner-up in 2023, Rybakina is seeded sixth and got the better of Iva Jovic of the United States 6-0, 6-3. The win sees her take another step towards the Australian Open title having shown her class on the court. Former French Open champion Iga Swiatek also booked her place in the next round after a dominating win.
(With inputs from agencies)