Pair of Sriram Balaji, Reyes-Varela makes first career Grand Slam pre-quarters in men's doubles

Paris, June 1: India's N. Sriram Balaji came up with his best result in the French Open, reaching the pre-quarterfinals of the men's doubles competition for the first time with a three-set victory with his Mexican partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela Martinez at Stade Roland Garros Saturday.

In the match played on Court 7, Balaji and Reyes-Varela, who made it to the main draw as Alternates following the withdrawal by another pair, defeated French wildcards Dan Added and Theo Arribage 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in front of a partisan and hostile French crowd Saturday.

The Indo-Mexican pair broke their opponent's serve in the seventh game of the first set to take a 4-3 lead and went on to win the set 6-4. They continued the good work by breaking serve in the first game of the second set and held their serve to take a 2-0 lead. The French pair, however, broke back serve in the sixth game to make it 3-3 and went on to win the next three games to win the set 6-3.

In the decider, games went with serve till 3-2 when the Indian/Mexican pair broke serve in a hard-fought lengthy game and surged 4-2 ahead. Balaji and Reyes-Varela held their serve and broke the French pair's service again to seal victory in one hour and 42 minutes.

Balaji and Reyes-Varela served well, putting in 69 percent first serve and won 36 of 55 points on that. They hit 39 winners while their rivals committed 24 unforced errors compared to 19 by the Indian/Mexican pair.

In the third round, Balaji and Reyes-Varela are likely to face Australian Open champions Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden if the Indo-Australian pair gets past their second-round opponents.

(IANS)