1st seeds Atharva Sharma (IND, 376) and Nikita Ianin (535) finished as doubles runners-up at the USD 30,000 ITF M25 Luanda 2 (Kikuxi Open) at Academia de Ténis Kikuxi in Luanda, Angola on Saturday after 2nd seeds Courtney John Lock (ZIM, 342) and Isaac Nortey (GHA, 1251) rallied from a set down for a 2-6, 6-3, [10-5] victory in 1 hour and 7 minutes.
Sharma and Ianin win 3 of 4 deciding points before Lock and Nortey surge from 4-4 in the match tiebreak
Competing during the week he achieved his career-high doubles ranking of 376, Sharma and partner Ianin held all 4 of their service games and broke at 1-1 and 4-2 to claim Set 1 6-2 in 25 minutes, and won 3 of 4 sudden-death 40-40 deciding points across the match including a Set 2 break back to 3-4 before Lock and Nortey broke again for 5-3 and pulled away from 4-4 in the 11-minute championship tiebreak by winning 6 of the final 7 points. Across their 3 matches in Luanda, the top seeds held 22 of 26 service games (84.6%) and won 9 of 13 deciding deuce points (69.2%) to collect 16 doubles ranking points as finalists.
| Round | Match | Score | Match Breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| F | [2] Courtney John Lock ZIM · 342 / Isaac Nortey GHA · 1251 def. [1] Atharva Sharma IND · 376 / Nikita Ianin 535 | 2-6, 6-3, [10-5] | Won 3 of 4 deciding points and led 6-2, 4-4 in the match tiebreak across 1 hour and 7 minutes |
| SF | [1] Atharva Sharma IND · 376 / Nikita Ianin 535 def. [4] Nicolas Jadoun FRA · 1315 / Louis Larue FRA · 1447 | 6-4, 6-4 | Won a deciding 40-40 break point at 4-4 in Set 2 to seal victory in 1 hour and 4 minutes |
| QF | [1] Atharva Sharma IND · 376 / Nikita Ianin 535 def. Alexey Dubinin 1737 / Ruslan Serazhetdinov 1858 | 6-1, 6-3 | Held all 8 service games and won 3 of 4 deciding deuce points in 55 minutes |
| R16 | [1] Atharva Sharma IND · 376 / Nikita Ianin 535 — Bye | Bye | Received a 1st-round bye as the No. 1 seeds in the 13-team draw |
Swipe through Atharva Sharma and Nikita Ianin’s ITF M25 Luanda final run
