Bopanna-Copil win, Sharan-Demoliner exit from French Open

Paris, May 31: India's Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Marius Copil advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of men's doubles competition after notching up a straight-set win at the French Open here Friday (May 31).

Bopanna-Copil registered a 6-4 6-4 win over Bengamin Bonzi and Antoine Hoang in a second-round match that lasted an hour and 11 minutes.

The duo will face Serbian pair of D Lajovic and J Tipsarevic for a place in the quarterfinals. However, Divij Sharan and his Brazilian partner Marcelo Demoliner made an early exit, losing their second round match in straight sets.

Up against eighth seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers, the unseeded Indo-Brazilian pair lost 3-6 4-6 in exact one hour.

Divij and Demoliner could convert none of the two break chances they got besides dropping their serve twice. It is the fourth tournament together for Divij and the Brazilian.

Ending runners-up at the BMW Open in Munich has been their best result. Divij had began the season by teaming up with compatriot Rohan Bopanna but split after losing four first round matches in seven tournaments in a three-month partnership. The Indians had won the season-opening Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune.