Bopanna-Ebden make winning start to US Open

Rohan Bopanna and his Australian men's doubles partner Matthew Ebden advanced to the second round of the US Open with a straight-set win over Christopher O'Connell and Aleksandar Vukic

New York: India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Australian men’s doubles partner Matthew Ebden advanced to the second round of the US Open with a straight-set win over Christopher O’Connell and Aleksandar Vukic here.

Bopanna and Ebden, who are seeded sixth, brushed aside the Australian duo 6-4 6-2 in less than an hour (55 minutes) to win their first round match comfortably on Wednesday.

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The 43-year-old Bopanna and 35-year-old Ebden converted three of their five break points while giving no break opportunity to their rivals.
The two had a first serve percentage of 72 per cent.

The Indo-Australian pair, which reached the Wimbledon semifinals, earned the first break in game nine to go up 5-4. The two found an early break in the second set and quickly raced to 5-2 before sealing the tie.

Bopanna, a US Open runner-up in 2010, and Ebden will meet the winner of the first round match between USA’s Aleksandar Kovacevic and Nicolas Moreno De Alboran, and Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev and Russia’s Roman Safiullin.