Reigning Australian Open champions Matt Ebden and India’s Rohan Bopanna preserve their unbeaten report in Grand Slam matches this season.
Paris, France, 3 June 2024 | Leigh Rogers
Matt Ebden and Indian companion Rohan Bopanna have made a profitable begin to their Roland Garros 2024 males’s doubles marketing campaign.
Nevertheless, the second seeds and reigning Australian Open champions wanted greater than two hours and three units to fend off a spirited problem from Brazilian alternates Orlando Luz and Marcelo Zormann.
Initially scheduled for Tuesday, this match was pushed again to Sunday as inclement climate in Paris triggered havoc to the schedule.
World No.3 Ebden and world No.4 Bopanna, who’ve every loved stints at world No.1 since their title-winning run in Melbourne earlier this yr, managed to ultimately rating a hard-fought 7-5 4-6 6-4 victory.
It’s a welcome outcome for 36-year-old Ebden, snapping a seven-match dropping streak in males’s doubles matches at Roland Garros.
In the meantime, Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson have earned a spot within the third spherical with a three-set victory towards the seventh seeds, Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Nikola Mektic of Croatia.
With their rain-delayed second-round match resuming early within the deciding set, the Aussie pair managed to expire 4-6 6-4 6-4 victors towards one of many world’s finest groups this season.
World No.9 Koolhof and world No.22 Mektic have received three ATP doubles titles to this point in 2024, a feat solely matched by their conquerors.
Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell in motion at Roland Garros 2024. Image: Tennis Australia
This outcome improves 26-year-old Purcell and 30-year-old Thompson’s enviable workforce report this season to 18 wins from their 21 matches.
It additionally equals their career-best doubles outcomes at Roland Garros. World No.33 Purcell is thru to the third spherical for a second time, having beforehand made this stage in 2021 alongside Luke Saville. World No.36 Thompson has additionally made the third spherical as soon as earlier than, partnering Nick Kyrgios, throughout his debut in 2017.
They’ll subsequent face the Australian Open 2024 finalists, Italian duo Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.
John Friends brushed apart the frustration of a second-round exit within the males’s doubles competitors alongside Roman Safiullin, after dropping to final yr’s finalists Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.
Friends, a former world No.2 in doubles, returned later within the day to attain a 6-1 6-4 first-round win in combined doubles with American Nicole Melichar-Martinez. The primary-time pairing upset the fifth seeds, Gille and world No.9 Vera Zvonareva.
This units up a second-round conflict with the defending champions, Japan’s Miyu Kato and Germany’s Tim Puetz.
Aussies in motion – Roland Garros
RESULTS
Males’s doubles, first spherical
[2] Matt Ebden (AUS)/Rohan Bopanna (IND) d [Alt] Orlando Luz (BRA)/Marcelo Zormann (BRA) 7-5 4-6 6-4
Petros Tsitsipas (GRE)/Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) d John-Patrick Smith (AUS)/Denys Molchanov (UKR) 7-6(9) 6-4
Males’s doubles, second spherical
Max Purcell (AUS)/Jordan Thompson (AUS) d [7] Wesley Koolhof (NED)/Nikola Mektic (CRO) 4-6 6-4 6-4
[10] Sander Gille (BEL)/Joran Vliegen (BEL) d John Friends (AUS)/Roman Safiullin 6-4 6-4
Combined doubles, first spherical
Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA)/John Friends (AUS) d [5] Vera Zvonareva/Sander Gille (BEL) 6-1 6-4
COMING UP
Males’s singles, fourth spherical
[11] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v [5] Daniil Medvedev
> VIEW: Roland Garros 2024 males’s singles draw
Males’s doubles, second spherical
[2] Matt Ebden (AUS)/Rohan Bopanna (IND) v Sebastian Baez (ARG)/Thiago Seyboth Wild (BRA)
Rinky Hijikata (AUS)/Guido Andreozzi (ARG) v [Alt] Manuel Guinard (FRA)/Gregoire Jacq (FRA)
Males’s doubles, third spherical
Max Purcell (AUS)/Jordan Thompson (AUS) v [11] Simone Bolelli (ITA)/Andrea Vavassori (ITA)
> VIEW: Roland Garros 2024 males’s doubles draw
Ladies’s doubles, second spherical
[2] Ellen Perez (AUS)/Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) v Wang Xiyu (CHN)/Yuan Yue (CHN)
> VIEW: Roland Garros 2024 girls’s doubles draw
Combined doubles, second spherical
[1] Ellen Perez (AUS)/Matt Ebden (AUS) v Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR)/Mate Pavic (CRO)
Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA)/John Friends (AUS) v Miyu Kato (JPN)/Tim Puetz (GER)
> VIEW: Roland Garros 2024 combined doubles draw
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