Rohan Bopanna and his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin shocked top seeded Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot in straight sets to reach the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the French Open in Paris on Saturday.
The 13th seeded Indo-French team beat the Brazilian-Polish combo 6-4 7-6(1) in one hour and 30 minutes in the third round.
It’s the third time that Bopanna has reached quarterfinal stage at Roland Garros. He made it to the last-eight pairs in 2011 and 2016 as well.
Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin saved five of the six break chances while they converted two of the breakpoints on their opponents’ serve in a tightly contested match. The Indo-French pairing were also helped by a high first serve percentage in the game, which stood at 73% and 70% in the first and second sets respectively.
They next face Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya for a place in the semifinals.
Bopanna is the only Indian surviving in the clay court Grand Slam as all others have suffered defeats. The Indian veteran won the mixed doubles title in Paris last year with Gabriela Dabrowski but was ousted in the first round with Timea Babos this time around.
The mixed doubles title in 2017 at Roland Garros is Bopanna’s only Major in his career so far.