Bengaluru, May 23: Indian doubles pair Adil Kalyanpur and Mukund Shashikumar have advanced to the men’s doubles final at the SM Krishna Memorial Open. They achieved this by defeating the second-seeded team of Ireland’s Charles Barry and Australia’s Joshua Charlton with a score of 6-4, 6-3 on Friday.
In contrast, the Indian duo of Niki Kalyanda Poonacha and Saket Myneni, who recently won the Karnataka Open doubles title, faced a setback. They lost in straight sets to Kazakhstan’s Petr Bar Biryukov and Grigory Lomakin, with a final score of 3-6, 4-6.
In singles, Ilya Ivashka maintained his composure under pressure, defeating Britain’s third-seeded player Hamish Stewart in a thrilling semifinal match. Ivashka won with scores of 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. He will face fourth-seeded Petr Bar Biryukov in the final, who triumphed in another marathon semifinal against second-seed Alastair Gray, winning 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).
Both Ivashka and Biryukov showcased exceptional skills in their respective semifinals. Ivashka’s aggressive baseline game and ATP Tour experience helped him break Stewart’s serve early in the first set, which he won 6-3.
Stewart made a strong comeback in the second set, breaking Ivashka’s serve twice to level the match at one set apiece. However, the decisive third set belonged to Ivashka. He capitalized on Stewart’s errors, securing crucial breaks to finish the match 6-2 after two hours and five minutes. Stewart recorded eight aces compared to Ivashka’s five.
In the other semifinal, Biryukov defeated Alastair Gray in a dramatic three-set match lasting two hours and one minute. After losing the first set 3-6, Biryukov improved his game, breaking Gray’s serve to win the second set 6-4. The final set was tightly contested, but Biryukov’s strong serving in the tiebreak helped him secure a 7-5 victory, earning him a place in the final.
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