Paris, May 27: India's top men's doubles stars Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna won their respective second-round matches in the French Open here on Friday.
Sixth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea won their second-round men's doubles French Open match, beating French pair Gregoire Barrere and Quentin Halys 6-3, 6-4 here on Friday. Sixteenth seeds Leander Paes and Marcin Matkowski later produced another dominating performance to earn a 6-4, 6-3 win in their second-round match against Julian Knowle and Florian Mayer. Bopanna-Mergea took a big headstart in the first set, jumping to a 4-1 lead. They maintained their dominance to reach 5-2 and were in total control as they claimed the first set 6-3 on Court 6.The Indo-Romanian pair maintained ascendancy, breaking their opponents' first service game to quickly jump 2-0 up. But they were pegged back with the French pair breaking back immediately to 2-2. Bopanna-Mergea converted three of the eight break points received in the second set to ultimately claim the second set 6-4. They won 67 of the total 121 points played, committing seven unforced errors as compared to 2 by their opponents. But conversion of break points turned crucial as Bopanna-Mergea won four of nine break points opposed to just two of four by Barrere-Halys.
Bopanna-Mergea outclassed Frenchmen Stephane Robert and Alexandre Sidorenko 6-2, 6-2 in the first round. Later, Paes-Matkowski produced another dominating performance to earn a comfortable victory. Paes-Matkowski face a break point in their second service game and were promptly broken to trail 1-3 in the first set at Court 14. The Indo-Polish duo were unable to break back immediately and trailed 2-4 against the Austria-German duo.
But they broke the Austrian-Germans pair's fourth service game to restore parity 4-4. Paes-Matkowski utilised their experience and remained composed to win the key points to snatch a 6-4 win in the first set. And they repeated that act in the second set, breaking ahead at a crucial stage of the game to serve out the second set 6-3.
Paes-Matkowski won 63 of the 105 total points played, hit 2 winners to none from their opponents and converted three of the four break points received.
Murray, Raonic through in French Open
After battling through his first two rounds in five sets, Scot Andy Murray enjoyed a much more straightforward victory in the third round at the French Open tennis here on Friday, defeating Ivo Karlovic 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(3).He was two points from defeat as he rallied from a two-set deficit against Radek Stepanek in the first round and overcame an inspired performance by French wild card Mathias Bourgue to prevail in five sets in the second round.But Murray was confident from the start on Wednesday and never looked like dropping a set.Canadian Milos Raonic also won his third round match after beating Slovakian Andrej Martin.The World No.9 and eighth seed beat Martin by 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-3 in two hours and 41 minutes.
Sixth-seeded Romanian Simona Halep advanced on Friday to the fourth round of the French Open tennis tournament with a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka in one hour and 44 minutes.
The 2014 finalist, winner of this year's Madrid Open, got off to a slow start and yielded the first set to the 18-year-old Osaka, who was making just her second appearance in a Grand Slam tournament.
"I'm very happy. Thanks Paris," Halep said after her victory.
Halep's next opponent will be Australian No. 21 seed Samantha Stosur, the 2010 finalist, who edged last year's runner-up, Czech Lucie Safarova, 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 7-5.
Also, Spaniard Garbine Muguruza defeated Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the third round. Muguruza, fourth seeded and World No.4, defeated Wickmayer, world no. 54, by 6-3, 6-0 in one hour and one minute.
Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal on Friday sprang a surprise by pulling out of the ongoing French Open citing a left wrist injury. Nadal, who on Thursday, became only the eighth player in tennis history to record 200 Grand Slam match wins, said he played with an injection during his second round win against Facundo Bagnis 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.
"I have a problem with my wrist... on Thursday, I played with an injection, I could play but yesterday night I started to feel more and more pain," the Spanish left-hander told reporters here. "On Friday, I felt I could not move my wrist," he added. This is the latest setback the 29-year-old Spaniard has suffered in an injury-plagued career.
Nadal however, hoped he would be fit to play at Wimbledon next month.
