Wimbledon: Bopanna-Ebden advance to quarterfinal in men’s doubles competition
The Hindu
India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australia’s Matthew Ebden reached the men’s quarterfinals at the ongoing Wimbledon championships in London on Tuesday, July 11.
India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australia’s Matthew Ebden reached the men’s quarterfinals at the ongoing Wimbledon championships in London on Tuesday, July 11.
As per olympics.com, they beat David Pel of the Netherlands and United States’ Reese Stalder in their Round of 16 match.
Playing on the grass court of the All England Club, the Indo-Aussie pair, seeded sixth, emerged victorious over unseeded Pel and Stalder 7-5, 4-6, 7(10)-6(5) in two hours and 19 minutes.
Bopanna, the world number 12 in the ATP men’s doubles rankings, and Ebden, who is world number 16, put on a disciplined performance in the first set, both of them holding serve, and after winning a late break in the 11th game found themselves leading by a set.
The Indo-Aussie duo also started off the second set hot. However, Pel and Stalder broke Bopanna’s serve in the 10th game and won the set. It set up an exciting decider.
The start of the third set was delayed due to rain for more than 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.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.