Tennis, French Open: N Sriram Balaji through to doubles second round; Yuki Bhambri exits

N Sriram Balaji won his first main draw men’s doubles match at the French Open as Yuki Bhambri exited in the opening round of men’s doubles in Paris on Friday.

Balaji combined with Mexico’s Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela Martinez to beat Reese Stalder and Sem Verbeek 6-3, 6-4 in a first-round match that lasted 1 hour and 19 minutes.

Bhambri, whose match was interrupted by rain, partnered with France’s Albano Olivetti as they lost 3-6, 6(5)-7 to Australian John Peers and Russian Roman Safiullin.

It was a solid start for Balaji and Martinez who broke their opponent’s serve to lead 3-1 in the opening set. That was the only breakpoint of the first set that was converted as Balaji and Martinez then served for the set to win 6-3.

Stalder and Verbeek opened the second set on their serve, but were broken again in the third game as Balaji and Martinez went 2-1. However, Stalder and Verbeek came back strongly to break their opponents back in the sixth game and level things at 3-all. This fightback didn’t last long as Balaji and Martinez broke back in the next game and ultimately ended up serving for the match to win 6-3, 6-4.

Bhambri and Olivetti were put on the backfoot early in...

Read more