BALAJI AND VISHNU MAKE SECOND ROUND OF DOUBLES IN WIMBLEDON

Qualifiers Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan made their presence felt on the grass courts of Wimbledon by making it to the second round of men’s doubles.

The Indian pair, busy most of the time on the Challenger circuit, did not drop a set in beating Marcus Daniell and Wesley Koolhof.

Twelfth seed Rohan Bopanna in partnership with Edouard Roger-Vasselin cruised into the second round. He was joined by Divij Sharan, who was partnering Artem Sitak of New Zealand.

Missing out was Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan in partnership with Austin Krajicek of the US, as the duo lost three tie-breaks against Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop.

Purav Raja in partnership with Fabrice Martin made one hell of a fight against Mirza Basic and Dusan Lajovic after losing the first two sets, but lost the decider 7-9 in the advantage fifth-set, quite typical of Wimbledon.

Surprisingly, the mixed doubles draw has only one Indian, and that is Divij Sharan, who is partnering Alicja Rosolska of Poland.

The results:

Men’s doubles (first round): Sriram Balaji & Vishnu Vardhan bt Marcus Daniell (Nzl) & Wesley Koolhof (Ned) 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-6(4); Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) & Rohan Bopanna bt Alex De Mnaur & John Millman (Aus) 6-2, 6-2, 6-4; Mirza Basic (BIH) & Dusan Lajovic (Srb) bt Fabrice Martin (Fra) & Purav Raja 6-2, 6-4, 6-7(5), 4-6, 11-9; Sander Arends & Matwe Middelkoop (Ned) bt Austin Krajicek (US) & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 7-6(2); Artem Sitak (Nzl) & Divij Sharan bt Radu Albot (Mda) & Malek Jaziri (Tun) 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-2.