Divij Sharan and Marcelo Demoliner registered a hard-fought win in their men’s doubles first round at the French Open on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and partner Mischa Zverev went down to fourth seeds Mate Pavic and Oliver Marach 6-7, 4-6.
The Indo-Brazilian pair of Sharan and Demoliner beat the Hungarian-Swede duo of Marton Fucsovics and Roberth Lindstedt 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in a match lasting one hour 48 minutes.
Sharan, the highest ranked Indian ranked at 39, and partner Lindstedt face eighth seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers in the second round. Kontinen outplayed Leonardo Mayer and Joao Sousa in straight sets.
The other Indians in the men’s doubles draw are Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna. Leander Paes, ranked 80, will play with Benoit Paire on Thursday.
On Tuesday, Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Marius Copil started their French Open campaign knocking out sixth seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus in the first round. The unseeded pair sent the South African-Kiwi duo packing in straight sets to win 6-3, 7-6(1) in one hour and 18 minutes.
Earlier, India’s sole singles competitor Prajnesh Gunneswaran suffered a one-sided defeat to Hugo Dellien in the opening round on Sunday.
