PARIS, JUNE 1 : Indian tennis player N Sriram Balaji, alongside his Mexican partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela Martinez, secured a spot in the second round of the men’s doubles event at the French Open 2024 held at Stade Roland Garros here on Friday.

The pair, entering the main draw as alternates due to multiple withdrawals, triumphed over the USA’s Reese Stalder and Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands in a commanding fashion, sealing the victory in straight sets with a scoreline of 6-3, 6-4 in their first-round encounter.
Their next challenge awaits as they prepare to face the French duo of Daniel Added and Theo Arribage in the upcoming round of the Grand Slam tournament.

In an eventful first set, Balaji and Miguel seized a crucial 4-1 lead after a hard-fought fourth game, where their opponents managed to save two break points but couldn’t prevent the Indo-Mexican duo from dominating the set.

The second set saw a more balanced exchange, with both pairs locked at 3-3 midway through. However, Balaji and Miguel surged ahead, securing two crucial games to close out the match in just one hour and 19 minutes.

While Balaji and Miguel celebrated their victory, India’s Yuki Bhambri and his French partner Albano Olivetti faced disappointment as they were defeated 3-6, 6-7 by Australia’s John Peers and Roman Safiullin in an 80-minute-long opening-round clash.

Elsewhere in the tournament, India’s Sumit Nagal ranked 95th globally, suffered a setback in the men’s singles event earlier this week, succumbing to an emphatic 6-defeat against 18th seed Karen Khachanov in the first round.

Rohan Bopanna, another prominent Indian tennis figure, is set to compete on Saturday. Teaming up with Australia’s Matthew Ebden in the men’s doubles event, the duo, seeded second, will face off against the all-Brazilian team of Orlando Luz and Marcelo Zormann.

Bopanna will also feature in the mixed doubles category alongside world No. 31 Veronika Kudermetova, taking on Italy’s Andrea Vavassori and Liudmila Samsonova in their opening match.(UNI)