French Open 2016 | Mirza-Dodig storm into quarters

After rain played spoilsport for two days in a row, Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig’s second round match against Alize Cornet and Jonathan Eysseric finally took place on Wednesday, and it proved to be a match worth waiting for. With a place in the last eight waiting, both pairs gave their all in a tight contest, which lasted one hour and 41 minutes.

Facing the unseeded duo of Alize Cornet and Jonathan Eysseric, Mirza and Dodig would have come into the match hoping for an easy game. But all those hopes went up in smokes in the third game of the match, when the local duo broke the second seeds. The Indo-Croatian pair levelled it up in the next, but the close nature of the match was visible to all.

In the 11th and 12th game of the opening set, both pairs broke each other once again to take the match into a tie-breaker. The tight nature of the game continued as both pairs matched each other point for point to reach 6-6 in tie-breaker, but Alize Cornet and Jonathan Eysseric snatched the crucial points and won it 8-6 to take the opening set.

Although they agonisingly lost the first set, Mirza and Dodig did not let it bother them too much, and broke the French pair to win the set 6-4 and to level it up 1-1 in the game. With both games tied at a set each, the match went into a tie-breaking third set to decide the winner. Mirza and Dodig lost the opening points and surrendered the momentum they got by winning the second set to to their opponents. But the second seeds won six consecutive points and took a 6-2 lead to put one foot in the quarter-final. Although the French pair fought back by making it 8-9 in the end, it proved to be too late as Mirza and Dodig won it 10-8.

Mirza and Dodig will now face seventh seeds Yung-Jan Chan and Max Mirnyi in the quarter-final.