India's US Open doubles dream ends early for Bhambri and Chandrasekar

INDIA's Yuki Bhambri and Anirudh Chandrasekar bowed out of the US Open after both suffered first-round defeats in the men's doubles here.

Bhambri and his New Zealand partner Michael Venus were beaten by American pair Ryan Seggerman and Patrik Trhac 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) in a closely fought opening-round contest, a defeat made harder to take given the pair had reached the semifinals at the US Open just last year.

Chandrasekar, partnering Belarus' Ivan Liutarevich, also went down fighting, losing to British duo Arthur Fery and Joshua Paris 4-6, 7-5, 4-6 in the first round.

Bhambri and Venus had chances. They made the first breakthrough in the second set, breaking the Americans in the second game before consolidating to take a 4-1 lead. But Seggerman and Trhac clawed their way back to level the set at 4-4, forcing another tie-break.

The Americans then closed it out, dominating the second tie-break 7-3 to end the match in straight sets.

It was a quiet finish to what had been a landmark year for Bhambri. His run to the semifinals in 2025 was his maiden appearance in the last four of a Grand Slam, before he eventually lost to Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski in three sets.

Chandrasekar's exit was equally hard-fought. The world No. 84, playing alongside Belarusian partner Ivan Liutarevich, ranked 89th, lost 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to Great Britain's Arthur Fery and Joshua Paris.

With Bhambri and Chandrasekar out of contention alongside Niki Poonacha, Paris 2024 Olympian N Sriram Balaji is now the only remaining Indian tennis player in the US Open.

Balaji and American partner Evan King saved six match points before beating Dutch pair Sander Arends and David Pel in the first round on Friday. They will take on 12th seeds Hugo Nys of Monaco and France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the second round on Sunday.

There was disappointment elsewhere too. Sumit Nagal's US Open campaign ended in the qualifying first round after he lost 3-6, 6-7(4) to top seed Arthur Gea, missing the main draw for a seventh straight Grand Slam. His last Grand Slam main-draw appearance was at the 2025 Australian Open, where he also lost in the first round.