Paris, May 29 (H.S.): Indian tennis star Yuki Bhambri advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event at the French Open alongside his Russian partner Alexandra Panova after an impressive straight-sets victory. Meanwhile, India’s Anirudh Chandrasekar and his Japanese partner Takeru Yuzuki crashed out of the men’s doubles competition following a hard-fought defeat.

Bhambri and Panova delivered a composed performance late Thursday night, defeating the Dutch-Ukrainian pair of David Pel and Lyudmyla Kichenok 7-6(2), 7-6(5) in a tightly contested encounter that lasted one hour and 50 minutes. The Indo-Russian duo displayed remarkable composure in crucial moments, especially during both tie-breaks.

Bhambri and Panova will now face the fourth-seeded pair of Desirae Krawczyk of the United States and Neal Skupski of Great Britain in the pre-quarterfinals.

The match remained extremely close throughout, with only a single-point difference separating the two teams overall. However, Bhambri and Panova elevated their game in the decisive moments to secure victory in straight sets.

The Indo-Russian pair fired five aces and won 70 percent of points on their first serve. They also excelled on second serve points, claiming 64 percent compared to just 48 percent by their opponents.

Bhambri and Panova struck 40 winners during the contest while committing only 16 unforced errors — four fewer than the opposing pair.

On the other hand, Anirudh Chandrasekar and Takeru Yuzuki suffered a narrow defeat against Switzerland’s Jakub Paul and Britain’s Marcus Willis in the men’s doubles event. The Swiss-British pair prevailed 6-3, 6-7(7), 10-3 in a gruelling match lasting two hours and 45 minutes.

After losing the opening set, the Indian-Japanese duo staged an impressive comeback to win the second-set tie-break and level the contest.

Chandrasekar and Yuzuki converted five of their 15 break-point opportunities, while their opponents managed to convert three of four chances. The Indo-Japanese pair also finished ahead on total points won, leading 122-105.

However, the decisive super tie-break was completely dominated by Paul and Willis, who sealed the match emphatically with a 10-3 victory to progress further in the tournament.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar