Paris: Indian tennis players Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna won their respective men’s doubles matches, while Sania Mirza also advanced to the women’s doubles third round of the French Open, the lone clay court Major, here on Friday.
Paes and his Canadian partner Daniel Nestor beat the German-Austrian combine of Andre Begemann and Julian Knowle 7-6(3), 6-2 in the men’s doubles second round, while ninth seeds Bopanna and Romanian Florin Mergea defeated American combine of Austin Krajicek and Donald Young 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Top seeds Sania and Martina Hingis of Switzerland eased past local pair of Stephanie Foretz and Amandine Hesse 6-3, 6-4 on Court 3 of Stade Roland Garros. Sania and Martina won two break points in each set to their opponents — one which was enough to settle the match in their favour.
After sharing the first two sets, the third and final set had a nail biting finish with Bopanna and Mergea holding their nerves to take the set 7-5 and eventually the match. They next face Netherland’s Jean-Julien Rojer and Romania’s Horia Tecau in the third round.
Paes and Nestor broke and were broken once in the first set which went into the tiebreaker where the experienced 10th seeds had it easy, winning it 7-3. They were broken once in the second set but broke Begemann and Knowle twice more to clinch the second set and the match. Next up, the Indo-Canadian pair will take on Italian sixth seeds Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini for a place in the quarter finals.
