French Open: Bopanna and Ebden beat Balaji - Varela to reach quarterfinals

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden clinched a hard-fought victory to advance to the men's doubles quarterfinals at the French Open, on Monday. The Indo-Australian pair triumphed over N Sriram Balaji and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela with a scoreline of 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 7-6 (10-8).

Bopanna and Ebden, entering the match as clear favorites, faced an unexpectedly tough challenge from Balaji and Reyes-Varela, who refused to bow out easily. Despite a first-set loss in a tie-break, Bopanna and Ebden leveraged their experience to secure the win in a match lasting 2 hours and 20 minutes.

The pair's journey to the quarterfinals saw them initially defeating the Brazilian duo of Marcelo Zormann and Orlando Luz 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. They received a walkover in the second round after Sebastian Baez and Thiago Seyboth Wild withdrew from the tournament due to Seyboth Wild's ankle injury.

On Monday, Bopanna and Ebden had to navigate two tie-breaks to emerge victorious, securing a crucial break of serve in the second set while denying their opponents any such advantage. Despite making 29 unforced errors compared to their opponents' 17, Bopanna and Ebden's 52 winners ultimately kept them in the competition.

Bopanna had faced earlier disappointment in the mixed doubles, where he and partner Veronika Kudermetova were defeated 2-6, 2-6 by Andrea Vavassori and Liudmila Samsonova. However, his resilience in the men's doubles has kept his campaign alive.

Next, Bopanna and Ebden will take on the winner of the match between the Belgian pair of Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen as they aim for a semifinal berth.