NEW DELHI: The Indo-Australian duo of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden secured a spot in the French Open semifinals after a convincing victory over Belgium's Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in the men's doubles quarterfinals in Paris on Wednesday.
The second-seeded pair triumphed 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-1 at Court Suzanne Lenglen, needing just one hour and four minutes to dispatch the 10th-seeded Belgian team in the year's second Grand Slam.
In a thrilling encounter, Bopanna and Ebden claimed the first set, but the Belgians fought back strongly to clinch the second. However, the third set saw Bopanna and Ebden dominate from the outset, securing an early break and maintaining their control throughout.
The path to the quarterfinals was not without challenges for Bopanna and Ebden, as they faced three-setters in both their first and third-round matches.
In the pre-quarterfinals, they were pushed to the brink by the unseeded team of N Sriram Balaji and MA Reyes-Varela Martinez, ultimately needing a super tie-break to advance.
(With PTI inputs)
