Andre Goransson and Yuki Bhambri Cruise to Australian Open Second Round

India’s Yuki Bhambri and his Swedish partner Andre Göransson progressed to the second round of the Australian Open 2026 men’s doubles event with a win over local wild cards James Duckworth and Cruz Hewitt in Melbourne on Wednesday. Yuki Bhambri, India’s top-ranked men’s doubles tennis player at world No. 21, and Andre Goransson, wrapped up a 6-3, 6-4 victory in just 57 minutes. The Indo-Swedish pair, seeded 10th at the opening Grand Slam of the year, were in firm control throughout the match and were near-flawless with their serves. In the opening set, they won four of their five service games on love, conceding a point only once, in the ninth game. A break in the eighth game against James Duckworth and Cruz Hewitt, the son of former world No. 1 and winner of multiple Grand Slams Lleyton Hewitt, proved sufficient to take the set. The pattern continued in the second set, with Bhambri and Goransson again winning four of their five service games without dropping a point. A decisive break in the seventh game sealed the contest. In the next round, Bhambri and Goransson will face either Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and the Netherlands’ David Pel or the Brazilian pairing of Marcelo Melo and Fernando Romboli. Bhambri’s best performance at the Australian Open came in 2014, when he reached the third round alongside New Zealand’s Michael Venus. His best showing at a Grand Slam came last year, when the pair made a run to the semi-finals at the US Open. Earlier at the Australian Open, Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha, the only other Indian tennis player in the men’s doubles draw, exited in the first round. Poonacha and his Thai partner Pruchya Isaro went down 7-6(3), 7-5 to Spain’s Pedro Martínez and Jaume Munar on Tuesday. Yuki Bhambri will partner 2018 Wimbledon champion Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the USA in the mixed doubles event in Melbourne. They will be up against the People’s Republic of China’s Zhang Shuai and Germany’s Tim Pütz, the sixth seeds, in the opening round. This will only be Bhambri's second appearance in a Grand Slam mixed doubles event, with the previous appearance coming at 2025 Wimbledon. The 114th edition of the Australian Open tennis tournament will conclude on February 1.