LONDON, July 11 (IANS) India’s Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden advanced to the men’s doubles quarter-finals at Wimbledon here, defeating David Bell and Rhys Stalder in the round of 16.
The Indian-Australian duo, seeded sixth, beat Dutchman David Bell and Rhys Stalder of the United States in a tough three-set match, defeating unseeded opponents 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(5). In 2 hours 19 minutes.
Bubanna, ranked 12th in the world doubles rankings, and world number 16 Matthew Ebden, who won the Wimbledon doubles title last year with Max Purcell, delivered a disciplined performance in the first set.
They hit 17 winners to 11 from Bell and Stalder winning 75% of the points on the first serve while winning 22 out of 36 points on the second serve. The Indian-Australian duo also committed nine unforced errors compared to three by their opponents.
They held serve and won a late break in the eleventh game to win the first set.
In the second game, Bubanna and Ebden got off to a good start, but against the course of the play, Bell and Stalder broke the Indian’s serve in the tenth game to win the second set and take the match to a decider. I was late because of the rain. All went well before Bubanna and Ebden saved three match points to take the match to a 10-point tiebreaker.
Bell and Stalder led 3-1 in the tiebreaker. But Bubanna’s superb backhand effort and Ebden’s precision helped the Indian-Australian duo win seven straight points and they eventually used their experience to seal the match in their favour. -finals.
– Jans
BSK
