Sriram Balaji and Andre Begemann through to Sardegna Open Final

Sriram Balaji and Andre Begemann secured a spot in their first doubles final of the year at the Sardegna Open in Cagliari, Italy. The Indo-German duo defeated the second-seeded Austrian pair of Alexander Erler and Lucs Midler 6-1, 6-4 in the semifinals.

The first set began favorably for the Indo-German duo as they quickly gained the upper hand against the Austrian pair, who struggled with their serves, leading to two crucial breaks in the short seven-game set.

The opening set lasted just 25 minutes, with Balaji and Begemann winning it 6-1. In the second set, the Indo-German duo continued to dominate as their opponents struggled to find their rhythm.

Begemann had the chance to close out the match on his serve, and he successfully converted on the second match point as Erler's service return found the net.

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Sriram Balaji and Andre Begemann eye first title of 2024

Sriram Balaji and Andre Begemann teamed up in 2023 and won three Challenger titles that year.

The first of these came in Bratislava, where they reached the semifinals with hard-fought wins over Andrew Paulson and Vitaliy Sachko, and Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn.

They then triumphed 7-6(4), 7-5 over the German pair of Constantin Franzen and Hendrik Jebens to reach the final. Here, Balaji and Begemann beat Andrey Golubev and Denis Molchanov 6-3, 5-7 [10-8] to win the tournament.

The pair's second title came at Ismaning in Germany, where they beat Frantzen and Jebens 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final. This was followed by another triumph in Helsinki, where they got the better of the Indian pair of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-2, 7-5 in the title clash.

Sriram Balaji and Andre Begemann will lock horns with the Bolivian pair of Federico Zeballos and Boris Arias in the final of the Sardegna Open.