Wimbledon 2016 | Bopanna-Mergea advance to third round

The Indo-Romanian pair had started their campaign with a tough match against the unseeded Croatian pair of Nikola Mektic and Marin Draganja yesterday, and faced a similar fight in their second round match.

Bopanna and Mergea started positively in the first set and held their serve thrice before breaking the unseeded pair in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. However, Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrej Martin bounced back quickly and broke the serve of the sixth seeds to come back into the match. Bopanna and Mergea saved four break points in the game, but the unseeded pair finally succeeded in the fifth attempt. Both pairs held their serve in the next four games as the game looked set for a tiebreaker. However, Bopanna and Mergea showed their experience in the 12th game and broke the unseeded pair to take the first set 7-5.

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The Indo-Romanian pair were lucky to win the first set after committing three double faults and three unforced errors. But, their opponents failed to cash in on the opportunity provided by the sixth seeds and committed two double faults and two unforced errors of their own. Bopanna and Mergea’s impressive win percent on first serves was one aspect that helped them win the first set. The sixth seeds got 80% win on first serves, while Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrej Martin only managed 46%.

The second set proved to be a much easier affair than the first for the Indo-Romanian pair. They first wasted four break points to take a lead in the set, before gifting their opponents the same in the next game. However, the unseeded pair returned the favour to Bopanna and Mergea wasting their opportunity. Then, the sixth seeds took the opportunity with both hands and broke the serve of the Chile-Slovakian pair twice to take the set 6-2 and to enter the third round.

Bopanna and Mergea could face Leander Paes and Marcin Matkowski in the pre-quarter-finals, if the Indo-Polish pair defeat Henri Kontinen and John Peers in their second round match.