India's Yuki Bhambri makes history at the US Open

Dubai: India’s Yuki Bhambri scripted history at the US Open by advancing to his first-ever Grand Slam semi-final in men’s doubles. The 33-year-old, currently ranked World No 32 and India’s top-ranked doubles player, teamed up with New Zealand’s Michael Venus to secure the milestone victory.

The Indo-Kiwi pair, seeded 14th, upset the 11th-seeded duo of Croatia’s Nikola Mektic and USA’s Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6(6)-7(8), 6-3 in a grueling two-hour, 39-minute battle in New York.

Bhambri and Venus struck early in the opening set, breaking serve in the fourth game before closing it out 6-3. The second set swung back and forth, with the pair recovering from an early break to push it into a tie-break. They held a match point at 6-5 but couldn’t convert, allowing Mektic-Ram to level the match.

The deciding set was tense, with Bhambri and Venus finally breaking in the ninth game. They had to dig deep, saving seven break points before sealing victory on their second match point to enter the last four.

This run marks Bhambri’s best-ever performance at a Grand Slam. He and Venus will face the sixth-seeded British pair of Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury in Thursday’s semi-final. Salisbury is a three-time US Open champion (2021–2023), while Skupski was a finalist in 2022.

Bhambri now stands as the lone Indian in contention at Flushing Meadows. Earlier, Anirudh Chandrasekar and Vijay Sundar Prashanth fell in the second round, while veterans Rohan Bopanna and Arjun Kadhe exited in the opening round with their respective partners.