LONDON, July 4: India’s Yuki Bhambri and his French partner Albano Olivetti prevailed against a quality pair to move to the men’s doubles second round but Olympic-bound N Sriram Balaji made an exit from the Wimbledon Championships along with Luke Johnson, here on Thursday.
Bhambri and Olivetti downed Kazkahstan duo of Alexander Bublik and Alexander Shevchenko 6-4 6-4 in 58 minutes at court nine.
The Indo-French pair broke its rivals thrice and saved two breakpoints on their serves.
They will next face eighth seeded German combination of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz.
Meanwhile, Balaji, who will compete at Olympics with Rohan Bopanna, lost the first round with British partner Johnson. They fell 4-6 5-7 to fourth seeds Marcelo Alevaro from Salvador and Croatian Mat Pavic.
Veteran Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden had also moved into the second round of the Wimbledon men’s doubles event with a smooth win over Robin Haas and Sander Arends on Wednesday night.
Bopanna and Ebden sailed past their Dutch opponents 7-5 6-4 in an hour and 11 minutes in a rain-interrupted match.
The second seeds, who are the current Australian Open champions, will face Germany’s Hendrik Jebens and Constantin Frantzen in the second round.
The Indo-Australian pair had reached the semifinals of the season’s third Grand Slam last year.
Earlier on Wednesday, India’s Sumit Nagal and his Serbian partner Dusan Lajovic were ousted in the first round by Spaniards Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar.
Martinez and Munar won 6-2 6-2 in one hour and seven minutes. (PTI)
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