Paris: Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna, partnering Romanian Florin Mergea, and India’s Leander Paes along with Canadian Daniel Nestor advanced into the men’s doubles second round of the French Open here on Wednesday.
Bopanna-Mergea, who are seeded ninth, defeated Serbian duo Filip Krajinovic and Viktor Troicki 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round at Roland Garros.
Paes-Nestor, seeded tenth, beat Australian pair James Duckworth and Chris Guccione 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in the first round.
In the match involving Bopanna, the first set was a close contest, which was finally clinched by Krajinovic and Troicki. But Bopanna-Mergea came back strongly to win the second set 6-3 and followed it up by clinching the third set 6-4.
Bopanna-Mergea will next face American duo Austin Krajicek and Donald Young in the second round after they earlier beat Maxime Teixeira and Florent Serra 6-1, 6-3.
Paes-Nestor showed their dominance right from the word go, winning the first set 6-2 in a one-sided affair.
But the Australian pair refused to give up. In a tight game, although Paes-Nestor had the upper hand, Duckworth-Guccione held their nerves till the end to level the game by winning the second set 7-5.
The third and final set was the most entertaining one as the game swung to both sides, but the Indo-Canadian pair had the last laugh, winning it 7-5 to wrap up the match and cruise into the second round.
