After days of delay due to incessant rain, the Indo-Australian men’s doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden advanced to the second round of the 2024 French Open on Sunday.
The second seeds ousted the Brazilian pair of Orlando Luz and Marcelo Zormann 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in a contest which lasted two hours and seven minutes.
Luz and Zormann, the eighth alternate pair who entered the main draw only after withdrawals, threatened to pull off an upset, but Bopanna and Ebden controlled the crucial stages of the match well to pull through.
Bopanna and Ebden had converted two break points early in the first set to race to a 4-1 lead, but the Brazilians fought back well to equalise at 5-5.
The Indo-Australian pair, however, put their experience on display with Edben serving out for the set rather comfortably.
Luz and Zormann called the shots in the second set despite the latter’s serve being broken in the opening game. Bopanna’s serve was broken in the second game as they staged a fightback to pocket the second set 6-4.
The final set saw a break from Bopanna and Ebden in the fifth game and they rode on that momentum to pocket it 6-4 and advance to the second round.
Bopanna exits in mixed doubles
Later in the day, Bopanna crashed out of the mixed doubles competition in the opening round alongside Veronika Kudermetova.
Having paired with the 27-year-old, Bopanna suffered a straight sets 2-6, 2-6 loss to Liudmila Samsonova and Andrea Vavassori.
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