US Open: Sriram Balaji, Evan King survive scare to reach men’s doubles second round

India’s Sriram Balaji and American Evan King needed almost three hours, two tie-breaks and six saved match points before they could walk off an outside court at Flushing Meadows as first-round winners. Playing together for the first time, the pair beat Dutch duo Sander Arends and David Pel 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (12-10) to reach the US Open 2026 men’s doubles second round.

The new partnership had been arranged earlier in the summer after Balaji reached out to King, with both looking for a partner. Their calendars only lined up in New York. On a warm Friday, with only a thin crowd watching, they still looked like a pair that had been on the same side of the net for months.

First-time pair refuse to fold

Arends and Pel, French Open quarter-finalists earlier this year, took control early. They broke in the eighth game and closed the first set 6-3. The second set stayed on serve until the tie-break, where the Dutch pair led 4-2, 5-3 and then 6-4. That gave them two match points. Balaji and King saved both and stole the breaker 9-7.

The scare was not over. In the decider, they were on the brink again at 5-6. Three more match points came and went. Balaji then held from 15-40 down in the 12th game. A sixth match point arrived in the match tie-break. They saved that too and finished 12-10. The whole fight lasted two hours and 56 minutes.

Ranking jump matters, court focus first

Balaji is 36 and ranked No. 54 in doubles. King, 34, sits one place above him at No. 53. In the ATP live list, they have already moved to 46 and 47 after this win.

“I'm very close to breaking top-50, and with this win I'm getting closer to my goal. So that was also a little important even though all that doesn't matter when I'm on court,” Balaji said.

“Every match that I can play here is important now,” he added. “When you play lower-level tournaments, the ranking doesn’t climb up so much, but this is a Grand Slam, and my only opportunity left this year. If you make like quarters or semis here, you can go up really fast in the rankings.”

That is the simple maths of a Slam week. Smaller events move a ranking only a few spots. A deep run in New York can change a season.

Seeded test next as Poonacha exits

Next up are the 12th seeds, France’s Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Monaco’s Hugo Nys. Roger-Vasselin won the French Open doubles title in 2014. Nys has been an Australian Open men’s doubles finalist. It is a sharp step up from an unseeded first-round grind.

India had a mixed opening day in the men’s doubles. Alternates Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Ecuador’s Gonzalo Escobar went down 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 2-6 to Austria’s Neil Oberleitner and Czech Petr Nouza. Yuki Bhambri, paired again with Michael Venus, was still to play.

For Balaji, the win is more than one result on an outside court. It keeps a late-season ranking push alive and gives a brand-new pairing another match at a Grand Slam. First, they have to prove Friday’s nerve was not a one-off.