Yuki Bhambri finds fresh momentum with Goransson

MELBOURNE: Yuki Bhambri has never been one to dwell on his load, it isn’t his way.When the 33-year-old decided to partner doubles specialist Michael Venus at the end of the grass-court season last year, it marked the fulfillment of an unspoken promise between long-time friends. India’s No. 1 doubles player is five years younger than the 38-year-old Venus, the 2017 French Open men’s doubles champion. The two first crossed paths during Bhambri’s junior years when he was based in Florida and, within weeks of teaming up, stormed into the US Open doubles semifinals. For Bhambri, forced to turn from singles to doubles because of a crippling tendonitis in both knees, the New York run signaled that he was finally finding his feet in the two-man act.Soon after, however, the partnership was put on hold. Venus underwent elbow surgery, ruling him out for six months.Bhambri, a former junior Australian Open singles champion, brushed aside the disappointment as he sipped a piccolo in the Melbourne heat.“That period was annoying because he is someone I enjoy playing with. It was disheartening not to be able to carry on with a partnership that could flourish,” Bhambri said, leaning forward in his seat. “Hopefully at some point when he's back, we might have another chance of going back and playing together again.”By October, Bhambri was back to work, surveying potential partners with the new season in mind. “A lot of times, it's who is around and who's available as well, so you don't always sort of get to cherry pick,” he said.Bhambri settled on 31-year-old Andre Goransson, a familiar face and someone he had known for years. The Swede had reached the men’s doubles semifinals here last year alongside Dutchman Sem Verbeek.Bhambri and Goransson, ranked 21 and 22 respectively in the ATP Tour’s individual doubles rankings, are seeded tenth in the men’s doubles draw at the Australian Open. They open against Aussies James Duckworth and Cruz Hewitt.The Indo-Swedish pairing, still relatively new, has already logged valuable match time together, competing in Brisbane and Auckland earlier this season.“We've known each other for a few years and it's not like a new partnership, which I think is beneficial because usually when you start off, you're really unsure about how things are. This doesn't feel that way,” Bhambri said. “I think it was good that we got a few matches in November (in Vienna) and then we obviously played in March as well.”“It's going well and I think we just really need to sort of perform good now when it matters,” the Indian finished.Meanwhile, in a first round match, wildcard entrants Niki Poonacha and Thailand’s Pruchya Isaro went down fighting to the Spanish pair of Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar 6-7 (3), 5-7.