Indian tennis round-up: Rohan Bopanna reaches Marseille semi-finals, Divij Sharan wins in Delray Beach
Wednesday turned out to be a great day for Indian tennis players as all of Rohan Bopanna, Divij Sharan, N Sriram Balaji and Prajnesh Gunneswaran won their matches at their respective tournaments. At the Open 13 in Marseille, France -- an ATP 250 tournament -- second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin booked their semi-final berth with a 3-6, 7-6(3), 10-4 comeback victory over the American-Canadian pair of Jamie Cerretani and Adil Shamasdin in 1 hour 28 minutes.
The Indo-French pair made it tough for themselves due to their inability to convert all four of the break point opportunities they got. Their opponents, however, made use of both the break points they bagged and earned two service breaks.
This is the second time this season that Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin reached the semi-finals at any event. They made it to the last-four in their very first outing of the year at the Sydney International, where they narrowly bowed out to the Wimbledon champions Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.
Sharan reaches Delray Beach quarter-finals
Over at the ATP 250 tournament in Delray Beach, Florida, USA, Divij Sharan and Scott Lipsky made a winning start to their campaign and secured their place in the quarter-finals. The Indo-American duo needed 1 hour 17 minutes to prevail over Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak 7-6(3), 6-2.
They have an uphill task in the next round as they face the third seeds Ben McLachlan and Hugo Nys.
That said, Sharan and Lipsky can take inspiration from the bright start they have had to their partnership. In October, the two teamed up to win the ATP 250 title in Antwerp, riding on a series of giant-killing wins. They also made it to the semi-finals of the Sofia Open earlier this month.
Balaji and Gunneswaran reach semis in Kyoto
At the Kyoto Challenger in Japan, the unseeded all-Indian combine of N Sriram Balaji and Prajnesh Gunneswaran reached the semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Zhe Li and Stephane Robert. The Indians were flawless on break point conversion and grabbed both their chances.