London (United Kingdom): Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna and his Australia partner Matthew Ebden reached the men's doubles quarterfinals at the ongoing Wimbledon championships here on Tuesday.
The sixth-seeded pair of Bopanna and Edben defeated David Pel of the Netherlands and Reese Stalder of the United States in their Round of 16 match. The Indo-Aussie pair emerged victorious over unseeded Pel and Stalder by 7-5, 4-6, 7(10)-6(5) in two hours and 19 minutes.
Bopanna, the world number 12 in ATP men's doubles rankings, and Ebden, who is world number 16 in the same, put on a disciplined performance in the first set, holding onto their services and after winning a late break in the 11th game, found themselves leading by a set.
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Bopanna and his Australian partner also started off the second set in an emphatic manner. However, Pel and Stalder broke Bopanna's serve in the 10th game and won the set.
The start of the third set was delayed due to rain for over an hour. But after the resumption, Bopanna-Ebden saved three match points to take the contest into a 10-point tiebreaker. Pel and Stalder led 3-1 in the tiebreaker. But then Bopanna-Ebden won seven successive points to win the match.
In the quarters, they will take on the Dutch duo of Bart Stevens and Tallon Griekspoor. Earlier in round two, Bopanna-Ebden emerged victorious over the British pair of Jacob Fearnley and Johannus Monday in straight games. Bopanna has kept the Indian challenge alive at Wimbledon.
The men's doubles pairs of Yuki Bhambri-Saketh Myneni and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan-N Sriram Balaji bowed out of the competition in the first round. Also, Ankita Raina was eliminated in the women’s singles qualifiers. (With agency inputs)
