French Open Doubles draw roundup| Leander Paes and Scott Lipsky to face Marcos Baghdatis and Gilles Muller
Leander Paes and Scott Lipsky are set to open their French Open campaign against Marcos Baghdatis and Gilles Muller. Should the Indo-American duo get past their first round opponents, they’re set to face a tough challenge in the form of number one seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers.
Having lifted the trophy at the Tallahassee Challenger and reached the semi-finals of the ATP 250 Geneva Open and the Bordeaux Challenger, the Indo- American duo head into the second grand slam of their year with momentum on their side.
Leander, a three-time French Open men's doubles winner- in 1999 and 2001 along with Mahesh Bhupathi and in 2009 with Lukas Dlouhy, will be looking to add to the 8 men's doubles Grand Slam titles he has already won.
Meanwhile, another Indian pairing in the fray Divij Sharan and Purav Raja will face Nicolas Almagro and Steve Johnson in the first round. Speaking of their chances against the American-Spanish duo, Sharan said, “We have not played them before. Purav and I have been training in Paris for the last four days. We are well settled and playing good,” as quoted by the Indian Express.
Sharan and Raja have been in fine form so far this year, reaching the final of Chennai Open and also reaching the semi-finals of two ATP
Reflecting on their performances so far, Sharan said, “It has been a good season so far, if not spectacular. We had some good results. We are playing more ATP 250s now. It makes a difference when you have a steady partner. We have been working on our game. There is
Finally, Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas make up the final pair with Indian representation in the men’s doubles section. They take on Mathias Bourgue and Paul-Henri Mathieu in the first round.
In the women’s section, Sania Mirza and Yaroslava Shvedova are seeded fourth and will take on Daria Gavrilova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in their opener.
