The second-seeded Indo-Australian duo of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden advanced effortlessly to the men's doubles third round of the Australian Open on Friday, January 19, securing a straight-sets win over the local pair of John Millman and Edward Winter. Competing in a second-round match at Court 3, Bopanna and Ebden comfortably defeated the wildcard entrants 6-2, 6-4 in just over an hour.
The pair, particularly highlighted by the 43-year-old Bopanna and Ebden, displayed dominance across all facets of the game. They achieved an impressive 80 percent success rate on their first serve, compared to Millman and Winter's 68 percent.
Notably, the duo also delivered the match's fastest serve, clocking in at 203 kmph, and executed 17 winners, outperforming their opponents who managed 11.
In their first-round match on Thursday, Bopanna and Ebden, who were finalists at the 2023 US Open, triumphed over another Australian team, James Duckworth and Marc Polmans, with a scoreline of 7-6 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (10).
In the upcoming third round, the pair of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden is set to compete against the 14th seeded Dutch-Croatian team comprising Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic.
In other news, another Indian player, Sriram Balaji, alongside his Romanian partner Victor Cornea, progressed to the second round of the Australian Open men’s doubles. The Balaji-Cornea team secured their spot by defeating the Italian pair of Matteo Arnaldi and Andrea Pellegrino with a score of 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round.
However, the representation of India in the singles category at this season's first Grand Slam concluded on Thursday, following Sumit Nagal's second-round defeat to China's Juncheng Shang.
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