Rohan Bopanna and his Dutch partner Matwe Middelkoop upset second-seeded Croatian duo of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in a thrilling three-setter to progress to the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the French Open in Paris on Saturday.
Bopanna and Middelkoop, 16th seeds, saved five match points during their 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (10) win over Mektic and Pavic in two hours 33 minutes.
There were no break of serves in the first two sets. However, the second seeds eventually broke the Indo-Dutch pair in the opening game of the deciding set and had the chance to serve for the match at 40-30 in the tenth game but Bopanna and Middelkoop won three points in a row to make it 5-5.
At 6-6, the match entered a 10-point super tie break in which the Croatian duo again had three match points at 9-6.
The 16th-seeded Indo-Dutch pair reeled off three consecutive points to restore parity before Mektic and Pavic earned their fifth match point opportunity at 10-9, but like they had done on the previous four, Bopanna and Middelkoop held their nerve to keep themselves in the match. From 10-10, Bopanna and Middelkoop won two straight points to pull off an incredible victory.
In the quarterfinals, Bopanna and Middelkoop will face the winner of the pre-quarterfinal match between Hugo Nys (Monaco)-Jan Zielinski (Poland) and Lloyd Glasspool (Great Britain)-Harri Heliovaara (Finland).
Paris, May 28 (IANS/AFP): World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Isner and Andrey Rublev continued their winning run in the French Open 2022 to reach the fourth round on Saturday. Swiatek registered her 31st straight, Rublev prevailed in four sets for the third consecutive time and Jannik Sinner also defeated wasteful American Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.
World no. 2 Medvedev played one of his best matches of the season to beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 and reach the last 16.
World No 1 Iga Swiatek extended her winning streak to 31 with a 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Danka Kovinic in the third round of the French Open, here on Saturday. With her win in over 1 hours and 30 minutes, Swiatek, the 2020 champion, has now reached the second week in all four of her Roland Garros appearances and she has won 17 of her 19 matches at the tournament. Her active winning streak, which stretches back to February and encompasses titles in Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart and Rome, is the fourth-longest of the 21st century.
The 20-year-old Pole is one win away from tying Justine Henin’s 32 in 2007-08; a final would equal Serena Williams’s 34 in 2013, and a title would put her level with Venus Williams’s 35 in 2000. Swiatek will next face either home hope Alize Cornet or rising 19-year-old Zheng Qinwen. Medvedev will play former US Open champion Marin Cilic or 37-year-old Frenchman Gilles Simon for a place in the last eight. The second seed needed just an hour and 48 minutes to dispatch the 22-year-old Kecmanovic, and didn’t lose serve a single time.
Alcaraz youngest man to reach last 16 since 2006
Spanish teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest man to make the fourth round at the French Open on Friday since Novak Djokovic in 2006. Alcaraz, 19, beat Sebastian Korda 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 as he avenged last month’s loss to the American at Monte Carlo — his only defeat on clay this year in 21 matches. His comfortable victory was in stark contrast to his troubles in the third round when he had to save a match point and go five sets to defeat compatriot Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Playing in the tougher half of the draw, Alcaraz could face third seed Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals.
Defending champion and world number one Djokovic and 13-time winner Rafael Nadal are potential semi-final opponents. However, the teenager defeated all three on his way to the Madrid Masters title earlier this month.