French Open: Bopanna/Ebden prevail over Balaji/Reyes-Varela to reach quarterfinals

Paris, June 3 (IANS) Second seed and 2024 Australian Open winners Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden came back from a set deficit to advance to the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the French Open on Monday, beating N. Sriram Balaji and his Mexican partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela Martinez in a third round clash at Stade Roland Garros.
Bopanna and his Australian partner Ebden defeated India’s Balaji and Reyes-Varela in the third-set tie-breaker to advance to the last-eight stage.
The second seeds romped to a 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(8) victory in a thrilling encounter. They will next face the 10th-seeded Belgian pair of Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in the quarterfinals.
Bopanna and Ebden failed to capitalise on two good chances to break their opponent’s serve in the first set. In the tie-breaker, Balaji and Reyes-Varela capitalise on a double-fault by Bopanna to take a handy lead and went on to win it 7-2.
However, the second seed fought back strongly in the second set and an early break helped them win it 6-3 and level the scores.
The third set was a tight affair and games went with serve as both the pairs served well.
In the Super Tiebreak, Balaji served a double fault and Bopanna and Ebden eventually came out on top to eventually seal a thrilling victory.
–IANS
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