Paris: India’s top doubles player Rohan Bopanna, along with his partner Denis Shapovalov of Canada, advanced to the quarter-finals of the ongoing Paris Masters after a straight-sets victory over the American-Argentine pair of Manuel Gonzalez and Austin Krajicek in their Round of 16 match.
Bopanna-Shapovalov defeated their American-Argentine opponent 6-1, 6-3 in a match which lasted for an hour Thursday evening.
The Indian-Canadian pair fired eight aces and committed one double fault. However, they saved eight out of 13 break points and won four of 13.
Bopanna and Shapovalov had earlier registered a 6-4, 7-5 win over Benoit Paire and Fernando Verdasco to move into the pre-quarters.
They will now face the Russian duo of Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublov Friday for a place in the semi-finals.
However, Sharan and his Kiwi partner Artem Sitak, who entered the event as alternates and knoccked out the fourth seeds earlier, lost 2-6, 3-6 to French team of Fabrice Martin and Jeremy Chardy in just 53 minutes.
Sharan has won two titles this season, triumphing at Pune with Bopanna and at St. Petersburg with Igor Zelenay. The title with Sharan in Pune remains Bopanna’s only trophy in 2019.
They had united as a team at the beginning of the season, eyeing Tokyo Olympics, but separated after finding it difficult to enter big tournaments with their combined rankings.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic continued their battle for the year-end world number one ranking as both players reached the Paris Masters quarter-finals with wins over Stan Wawrinka and Kyle Edmund respectively.
Agencies