US Open 2025: Yuki Bhambri cruises into pre-quarters to keep Indian challenge alive

India’s Yuki Bhambri and his partner Michael Venus of New Zealand progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the US Open 2025 tennis men’s doubles event in New York on Monday.

Seeded 14th, Bhambri and Venus defeated the unseeded pair of Colombia’s Gonzalo Escobar and Mexico’s Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela 6-1, 7-5 in an hour and 25 minutes at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre.

Bhambri, India’s top-ranked men’s doubles tennis player at world No. 32, and Venus broke their opponents twice to race to a 3-0 lead before sealing the opening set 6-1.

Escobar and Reyes-Varela fought harder in the second, but Bhambri and Venus held firm, taking the set 7-5 to book their spot in the last 16. They will next face the fourth-seeded German pair of Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz.

In their opener, Bhambri and Venus had breezed past the USA’s Marcos Giron and Learner Tien 6-0, 6-3.

Last year, Bhambri partnered with French tennis player Albano Olivetti for the US Open and made the pre-quarterfinals.

The duo lost to Spain’s Marcel Granollers and Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos in straight sets. Bhambri has never progressed beyond the pre-quarterfinals stage in a Grand Slam.

On Sunday, Anirudh Chandrasekar and Vijay Sundar Prashanth’s run came to an end with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat to Brazil’s Fernando Romboli and Australia’s John-Patrick Smith.

The Indian tennis players had stunned eighth-seeded Americans Evan King and Christian Harrison in the first round.

Earlier, Indian veteran Rohan Bopanna and his partner Romain Arneodo of Monaco crashed out in the opening round on Saturday. Arjun Kadhe and his partner, Diego Hidalgo of Ecuador, also made a first-round exit.

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