Ajeet Rai held serve to love to start the match when he and Calum Puttergill played Ruben Gonzales and Nam Ji-sung in their doubles quarter-final at the ATP Challenger tournament in Sydney, but Gonzales hit a backhand into the net to give away a deuce when he served. There was a good rally on the deciding point before Puttergill hit a backhand into the net. A double fault from Puttergill gave away break points in the next game, and Nam converted the first when he hit a big forehand into Rai. Nam then held comfortably to consolidate the break before Rai again held to love, and Gonzales again had to get through a good rally on his final point, although this time he hadn’t gone to deuce.
Gonzales started Puttergill’s next game with a beautiful backhand return down the tramlines, and another great rally ended when Puttergill was forced to hit a forehand volley into the net. A backhand volley from Gonzales brought more break points, and Puttergill lost the second of them when he hit a forehand into the net. Rai hit a beautiful backhand winner down the tramlines to take Nam’s first point as the Korean served for the set, but that was the receivers’ only success. A forced return error from Puttergill gave away three set points, and he was forced to send a backhand volley wide to end the set after 25 minutes.
The second set was much more even, with the first chance for a break not coming until Rai served the fifth game. Puttergill hit a forehand volley over the baseline to send them to deuce, but the serve down the middle on the deciding point squirted away off Nam’s racquet. Nam hit a fabulous angled backhand volley to end the game when Gonzales served next, with the rest of that service rotation seeing everyone hold to love. Gonzales aced Rai down the centre to end the next game, but things changed when Puttergill served for the third time. A fantastic 15 shot rally ended when Rai was forced to leave a backhand volley short of the net, and that gave the third seeds three break points. A forced return error and a lovely forehand volley from Rai took them to deuce, but Rai pushed a backhand volley into the net to lose the deciding point, and that left Nam serving for the match.
Puttergill hit two glorious returns of serve – the first a forehand through the middle of the court, and the second a cross-court backhand – but Rai hit his next shot wide to give away two match points. Gonzales needed just one chance, smashing away a volley to end the match after an hour and three minutes. The final score was 6-2, 7-5.