Maha Open | Jeevan-Vijay duo downs Bayldon-Romios pair, clinches yet another doubles crown

It was the 35th doubles crown in the professional circuit for the 36-year-old Jeevan and the 27th title for the 38-year-old Vijay

Top seeds Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth beat second seeds Blake Bayldon and Matthew Romios of Australia 3-6, 6-3, [10-0] in the doubles final of the Pune Metropolitan $160,000 Maha Open Challenger tennis tournament at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Saturday.

It was the sixth title as a pair for Jeevan and Vijay who had won their first title together in 2012. The champion collected 100 ATP points and $7,960. The runner-up pocketed 60 points and $4,600.

It was the 35th doubles crown in the professional circuit for the 36-year-old Jeevan. It was the 27th title for the 38-year-old Vijay. The two had won the Tour event last year in Hangzhou.

In singles, sixth seed Brandon Holt of USA set up a title clash with Dalibor Svrcina of the Czech Republic.

Brandon beat eighth seed Alexis Galarneau of Canada 7-5, 6-4, after having led 5-0 in the first set. Dalibor had to fight his way past Khumoyun Sultanov of Uzbekistan after losing the first set in the tie-break. However, the Uzbek retired while trailing 1-3 in the decider owing to exhaustion.

It has been a consistent run in the three Challengers in India for the 22-year-old Dalibor, who had made the semifinals in Chennai and the second round in Delhi. He will be looking for his maiden Challenger title.

The 26-year-old Brandon, ranked a career-best 153, will be looking for his second Challenger crown this season, after having won the Nonthaburi Challenger in Thailand.

The results:

Singles (semifinals): Brandon Holt (USA) bt Alexis Galarneau (Can) 7-5, 6-4; Dalibor Svrcina (Cze) bt Khumoyun Sultanov (Uzb) 6-7(8), 6-0, 3-1 (retired).

Doubles (final): Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Blake Bayldon & Matthew Romios (Aus) 3-6, 6-3, [10-0].

Published - February 22, 2025 06:48 pm IST