Sixth seeds, South African Raven Klaasen and his American doubles partner Rajeev Ram, on Thursday knocked out former world singles number one Novak Djokovic and partner Viktor Troicki to secure their place in the semi-finals of the doubles at the prestigious Indian Wells tournament in California.
Klaasen and Ram fought back from a set down to end the Serbian duo’s sensational run via a 3-6 6-210-6 victory.
Small in stature, Klaasen dominated with his serve and net play in perfect symmetry with his partner. The South African’s fast feet seem to have rubbed off on Ram, as he comfortably covered all the angles as the Serbians tried to find a gap in the solid wall the sixth seeds presented at the net.
The doubles event has involved top singles players, and it has cemented the South African’s place as part of one of the world’s best partnerships.
Klaasen and Ram are now two wins away from a second career Masters title. Klaasen won the Shanghai Masters with former Brazilian partner Marcelo Melo in October 2015.
This has been a breakthrough week for Klaasen/Ram as they dominate on the hard courts, their favourite surface.
They now face an unexpected meeting with an unseeded pair - American Sam Querrey and Luxembourger Gilles Müller - in the early hours of Friday morning (SA time).
In one of the top tournaments of the year, the drama continued in the singles too.
It was not a good day at the office for Djokovic as he was ousted in singles as well, by Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-4 7-6(3).
Roger Federer comfortably beat Nadal 6-2 6-3 to set up a meeting with young gun Kyrgios.
Tunisian Malek Jaziri’s campaign ended when he lost narrowly to American 12th seed, Jack Sock, 6-4 6-7(1) 5-7. Jaziri had earlier beaten star of tomorrow Taylor Fritz (6-4 3-6 6- 3).
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