CHENNAI: Four Indian players will be part of the French Open men’s doubles pair but Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna will be playing with separate partners. When the country’s two best doubles players formed an alliance in the beginning of the season, it was expected that they would continue at least till the French Open. But a string of poor results in February and March meant they were forced to look for other players.
So Bopanna, World No 40, will be teaming up with Romania’s Marius Copil. Interestingly, the 37-year-old, who had teamed up with Great Britain’s Dominic Inglot in the last six events, will partner Copil, World No 544. Sharan, who is playing the Geneva Open this with Australia’s Philipp Oswald, will rekindle his partnership with Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner. The World No 48, and Sharan, in fact advanced to the final of the Bavarian International two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Leander Paes, who seems to have struck an intriguing association with Benoit Paire, will pair up with the Frenchman in Paris. The 45-year-old, who hasn’t played on the red clay of Roland Garros in the last two years, is in something of a rut at the Majors. But he has reached two semifinals with Paire over the last few months. The last Indian in the list is Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, who has signed on with Mischa Zverev. The 30-year-old is still searching for his first main draw win.
Ramkumar bows out
Ramkumar Ramanathan bowed out of the first round of the French Open qualifiers on Monday. The World No 144 was beaten in straight sets by Australian Jason Kubler 6-4, 6-4. This means that Prajnesh Gunneswaran will be the lone Indian in the men’s draw. Indians at French Open: Singles: Prajnesh Gunneswaran. Doubles: Divij Sharan and Marcelo Demoliner, Leander Paes and Benoit Paire, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Mischa Zverev and Rohan Bopanna and Marius Copil.
Pliskova jumps five places to become World no. 2
PARIS: Karolina Pliskova climbed five places in the WTA rankings on Monday to second after her Italian Open triumph at the weekend, with Naomi Osaka’s World No 1 spot now in the Czech’s sights. The 27-year-old saw off Briton Johanna Konta to win her 13th WTA title in Rome.