Kazakhstani tennis player Damir Zhalgasbay and American Safir Azam have advanced to the semifinals of the boys' doubles at the 2026 US Open Junior Championships. In the quarterfinals, the Kazakh-American duo defeated Puerto Rican Yannick Alvarez and Ryan Kosad of the United States 6-3, 6-7 (14-16), 10-6 in a super tiebreak, according to infohub.kz.
Despite the impressive final score, the quarterfinalists spent just 1 hour and 22 minutes on court. Their tennis was not heavy on long rallies.
In the first set, with the score at 3-3, Zhalgasbay and Azam won three straight games to take it 6-3. In the second, the two sides traded breaks twice and essentially played a double tiebreak. At the end of the 13th game, luck smiled on Alvarez and Kosad, who took it 16-14.
A super tiebreak decided the semifinalists, and winning those is nothing new for Damir and Safir. In the round of 16, they beat Japan's Hugh Kawanashi and Kanta Watanabe 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-4), 10-4. This time, the Kazakh and the American allowed their opponents two more points, winning 10-6.
Zhalgasbay and Azam will face Americans Tanishk Konduri and Marcel Latak for a place in the final.
At the start of the doubles tournament, Zhalgasbay and Azam defeated the Thai-Indian pair of Kunanan Pantaratorn and Arnav Paparkar 6-4, 6-2.
In singles, Zhalgasbay put his racket away after his first match against American Jack Secord.
Elena Rybakina is still competing at the 2026 US Open. The country's top seed, who will take over the world No. 1 ranking on Monday, plays American Coco Gauff in the semifinals today.
The US Open is an annual hard-court Grand Slam tournament. It is the last of the four majors on the calendar. The total prize pool of $108 million is a record for the majors.