Yuki-Alexandra advance; Chandrasekar-Yuzuki bow out in doubles

Paris, May 28 (PTI) Yuki Bhambri advanced to the mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals with partner Alexandra Panova after a gritty straight-set win, while Anirudh Chandrasekar and Japan’s Takeru Yuzuki crashed out following a hard-fought defeat in the men’s doubles of the French Open, here on Thursday.

Yuki and his Russian partner Alexandra battled past Dutch-Ukrainian pair of David Pel and Lyudmyla Kichenok 7-6(2), 7-6(5) in a tense contest that lasted one hour and 50 minutes.

Yuki and Alexandra will next face fourth seeds Desirae Krawczyk of USA and Neal Skupski of the Great Britain in the round of 16.

Yuki and Alexandra held their nerve in both tie-breaks to seal a straight-sets victory in a closely-fought match where just one point separated the two

teams overall.

The duo struck five aces, won 70 per cent of points on first serve and were especially effective on second serve, claiming 64 per cent of those points compared to 48 per cent by their opponents.

Yuki and Alexandra also finished with 40 winners and committed only 16 unforced errors, four lesser than Kichenok and Pel.

Chandrasekar and his Japanese partner Yuzuki bowed out after suffering a hard-fought 3-6, 7-6(7), 3-10 defeat to Swiss-British pair Jakub Paul and Marcus Willis in a men’s doubles contest that lasted two hours and 45 minutes.

After dropping the opening set, Chandrasekar and Yuzuki showed tremendous resilience in a tense second-set tie-break to bring it level.

The Indo-Japanese pair converted five of their 15 break-point opportunities, compared to three from four by their opponents, while also winning 122 points overall against 105 by Paul and Willis.

However, the Swiss-British combination dominated the decider, racing away to a 10-3 win to seal the contest. PTI TAP ATK