Yuki Bhambri progresses into maiden Grand Slam tennis semi-finals

India’s Yuki Bhambri moved into his maiden Grand Slam semi-final after a hard-fought win in the men’s doubles quarters at the US Open 2025 on Wednesday.

Bhambri and his partner, Michael Venus of New Zealand, the 14th seeds, beat the 11th-seeded team of Nikola Mektić of Croatia and the USA’s Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6(6)-7(8), 6-3 in a marathon match that lasted two hours and 39 minutes in New York.

Both Mektić and Ram have won Grand Slams in the past, albeit with different partners. Mektić is also one half of the men’s doubles champions from Tokyo 2020 while Ram is a two-time Olympic silver medallist - from Rio 2016 and Paris 2024.

Yuki Bhambri, India’s top-ranked men’s doubles tennis player at world No. 32, and Venus broke Mektić-Ram’s serve in the fourth game and consolidated to close out the opener.

The second set saw Bhambri-Venus lose serve in the fourth game before breaking back in the seventh to force a tie-break.

In the tie-break, the Indo-New Zealand duo failed to convert a match point at 6-5, allowing Mektić-Ram the opportunity to win the second set and take the contest into a decider.

The final set was a tense affair with the Indian tennis player and his Kiwi partner getting a break point in the ninth game to set up an opportunity.

However, they were made to work hard for the win, saving seven break points before finally converting their match point to move into the semi-finals.

Bhambri’s charge to the US Open semi-finals doesn’t just mark his first appearance in New York’s last four but also the deepest run of his Grand Slam career.

He and Michael Venus will take on the sixth-seeded duo of Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Joe Salisbury won the US Open men’s doubles thrice in the past from 2021 to 2023, while Neal Skupski had reached the finals of the event in the 2022 edition of the tournament.

Yuki Bhambri is the last remaining Indian challenge at this year’s US Open. 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.

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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