The two men's doubles pairings invloving an Indian each had contrasting results on Friday at the French Open 2024 with N Sriram Balaji earning his maiden win at the Roland Garros and Yuki Bhambri's tournament coming to an end in the opening round. (More Tennis News)
Balaji, who is the frontrunner to join Rohan Bopanna in the Indian men's doubles team for Paris Olympics, combined well with Mexicao's Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela Martinez for a 6-3 6-4 victory over American Reese Stalder and Dutch Sem Verbeek.
This is Balaji's first victory at the French Open.
Bhambri who is also a contender to become Bopanna's partner at the summer games did not have the ideal start as he alongside his partner and local boy Albano Olivetti went down in straight sets.
Yuki and Olivetti's tournament got over in the opening round as the duo lost 3-6 6-7(5) to Australia's John Peers and Russia's Roman Safiullin.
The Yuki-Olivetti pairing struggled in first set leaving court open too many teams to let their opponents get easy winners. Yuki and Olivetti had a dissapointing first set.
However, the duo involving the Indian came back strongly in the second set to take the game into tiebreaker. Yuki and Safiullin engaged in an interesting duel late in the game but that was not enough as the Indian and partner were eliminated from the French Open.
Despite a first round exit, Yuki showed why he remains a strong contender to partner Bopanna. His all-round game, hitting ability from the baseline and a decent serve were all on show on Friday.
Bopanna who will be in action on Saturday was also watching Yuki's game as he keeps his search on for his partner at the upcoming Olympics.
On Saturday, India's top players Bopanna and Sumit Nagal will be up against each other in the men's doubles first round. Nagal entered the draw with Austria's Sebastian Ofner as alternate pair.
Bopanna will take court alongside Matthew Ebden. The duo is world's second ranked men's doubles pair currently.
