Bhubaneswar: Local boy Kabir Hans delighted the home crowd at the Kalinga Stadium Tennis Centre by advancing to t
he men’s doubles final in the M25 Bhubaneswar ITF World Tennis Tour 2024 meet.
Kabir and his partner Rishab Agarwal defeated the third-seeded duo of Siddhant Banthia and Vishnu Vardhan 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) in the semifinal here on Friday.
Standing between Kabir-Rishab and the title are top seeds Egor Agafonov and Bogdan Bobrov, who were given a scare in their semifinal. Up against another Indian pair Ishaque Eqbal and Faisal Qamar, Agafonov and Bobrov had to dig deep in squeezing out a thrilling 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 10-8 victory.
The doubles final will take place at 3 pm on Saturday.
In men’s singles, India’s Aryan Shah will take on top-seeded Dalibor Svrcina of Czech Republic, while Bobrov comes up against American Nick Chappell in the semifinals.