The pair of Yuki Bhambri and Alexandra Panova advanced to the mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals with a straight-set win, while the duo of Anirudh Chandrasekar and Takeru Yuzuki crashed out following a hard-fought defeat in the men’s doubles of the French Open.
Yuki and his Russian partner Alexandra battled hard to beat the Dutch-Ukrainian pair of David Pel and Lyudmyla Kichenok 7-6(2), 7-6(5) in a closely contested match that lasted one hour and 50 minutes.
The Indo-Russian duo kept their calm in both tie-breaks to secure the win in straight sets. The match was extremely close, with just one point separating the two pairs overall.
Yuki and Alexandra served well throughout the match, hitting five aces and winning 70 per cent of points on their first serve. They were also stronger on second serve, winning 64 per cent of those points compared to 48 per cent by their opponents.
The pair also played aggressive tennis, finishing with 40 winners while making only 16 unforced errors, four fewer than Pel and Kichenok.
They will now face fourth seeds Desirae Krawczyk of the USA and Neal Skupski of Great Britain in the round of 16.
Meanwhile, Chandrasekar and his Japanese partner Yuzuki were knocked out after a tough 3-6, 7-6(7), 3-10 loss to Swiss-British pair Jakub Paul and Marcus Willis in the men’s doubles event. The match lasted two hours and 45 minutes.
After losing the first set, Chandrasekar and Yuzuki showed great fighting spirit to win a tense second-set tie-break and level the match.
The Indo-Japanese pair created several chances and converted five of their 15 break points, while their opponents converted three out of four. Chandrasekar and Yuzuki also won more total points in the match, 122 compared to 105 by Paul and Willis.
However, Paul and Willis dominated the deciding super tie-break, racing to a 10-3 win to seal the match.
