India’s Yuki Bhambri and N Sriram Balaji progressed to the second round of the men’s doubles event at the French Open 2026 after registering wins with their respective partners in Paris on Tuesday. Bhambri and New Zealand’s Michael Venus defeated Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo and Mariano Kestelboim 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 22 minutes to begin their Roland Garros campaign on a positive note.
The first set remained evenly contested with both pairs holding serve comfortably through the opening 10 games. Bhambri and Venus, however, found the breakthrough at the crucial stage, breaking the Argentine pair in the 11th game before serving out the set to take the early advantage.
The Indo-New Zealand combination carried the momentum into the second set and quickly took control of the contest with an early break of serve. Bhambri and Venus looked far more settled from the baseline and at the net as the set progressed, not allowing Cerundolo and Kestelboim any route back into the match.
A second break in the latter stages of the set effectively ended the resistance from the Argentine duo as Bhambri and Venus wrapped up the straight-sets win in commanding fashion.
Bhambri, currently India’s highest-ranked men’s doubles player, is also set to feature in the mixed doubles event at the French Open. He will partner Alexandra Panova against David Pel of the Netherlands and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok in the opening round on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Paris 2024 Olympian N Sriram Balaji and Brazil’s Marcelo Demoliner were stretched to three sets before overcoming Robin Haase of the Netherlands and Germany’s Constantin Frantzen 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in one hour and 45 minutes.
Balaji and Demoliner made a confident start to the contest, breaking serve early in the third game of the opening set to seize the initiative. The Indo-Brazilian pair continued to apply pressure on their opponents’ serve and earned another break in the ninth game to seal the first set 6-3.
Haase and Frantzen responded strongly in the second set and raised the intensity from the baseline. The Dutch-German pair earned a crucial break in the seventh game before holding serve consistently to level the match and force a deciding set.
The momentum briefly appeared to shift in favour of Haase and Frantzen, but Balaji and Demoliner regained control early in the third set with another timely break of serve in the second game.
From there, the Indo-Brazilian duo stayed composed on serve and did not allow their opponents another opening, eventually closing out the match to secure their place in the second round.
– Ends
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