The Times of India in Melbourne: India’s Yuki Bhambri and Sweden’s Andre Goransson, ranked 21 and 22 in the ATP Tour’s individual doubles ranking, are seeded 10
th in the men’s doubles draw of the Australian Open.
The Indo-Swedish combine, a relatively new pairing, played Brisbane and Auckland as a team. In the season’s opening Grand Slam, they take on James Duckworth and Cruz Hewitt in the first round.
Hewitt, 17, the son of former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt, and the 33-year-old Duckworth, are wildcard entrants.
Bhambri and Goransson, who lost their first match in Brisbane, and made the semi-finals at Hobart, are drawn in the bottom, top-half of the 64-team draw. The tenth seeds could play the fifth seeds from Germany Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz in the third round.
The men’s doubles draw is headlined by the British twosome of Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, who could play wildcard entrants Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis in the third round.
A pair of 30-year-olds, India’s Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Thailand’s Pruchya Isaro, ranked 145 and 150 in the ATP men’s doubles rankings respectively, are logged in the bottom half of the draw. The duo have a tough opener against the Spanish pair of Pedro Martinez and Juame Munar.
Poonacha, who’ll make his Grand Slam debut in Melbourne Park later in the week, and Isaro, made the draw courtesy their win in the Asia-Pacific wildcard play-offs in Chengdu in late November.
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Prajwal Hegde, Senior Editor (Tennis) at The Times of India since...
Read MorePrajwal Hegde, Senior Editor (Tennis) at The Times of India since July 2005, has covered all four Grand Slams—Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open—for over a decade, along with Tour events across Asia and Europe, Davis Cup, and BJK Cup. She received the 2021 Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award from the ATP. Prajwal serves on the International Tennis Federation’s Media Commission and is a member of the International Tennis Writers Association. She appears in the docuseries Break Point and authored the Steffi Graf chapter in Sportstars 40, published by The Hindu in January 2020.
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