Poonacha-Isaro pair bows out of Australian Open with opening round defeat

Melbourne, Jan 20 (PTI) India's Niki Poonacha and his Thai partner Pruchya Isaro exited the men’s doubles event at the Australian Open after suffering a narrow straight sets defeat against Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar in the first-round, here on Tuesday.

The Indo-Thai wild card pair lost 6-7(3) 5-7 to the Spanish pair in one hour and 51 minutes at court 14.

There was not much to separate between the two pairs but Poonacha and Isaro could convert only one of the three break chances and dropped their serve twice in the match.

India still have their challenge alive in the doubles as Yuki Bhambri is set to compete with Swedish partner Andre Goransson. They have been seeded 10th and will open their campaign against local wild card entrants James Duckworth and Cruz Hewitt, son of former world number one Lleyton Hewitt.

India does not have any player in the men's singles main draw with Sumit Nagal's ranking plummeting in season 2025. PTI APS APS UNG