Paris, June 1 (IANS) Indian star N. Sriram Balaji and his Brazilian partner Marcelo Demoliner caused a major upset at the French Open, stunning sixth-seeded Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz to continue their impressive run into the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles section at the Stade Roland Garros on Monday.

The Indo-Brazilian pair came up with a composed performance to win their pre-quarterfinal match 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 25 minutes in the clay court major, thus making their maiden quarterfinal entry in Grand Slams for both Balaji and Demoliner.

This is their third successive win in the tournament and underlined their growing confidence as a team. Their entry into the quarterfinals caps a strong week for Balaji and Demoliner, who had earlier registered a convincing second-round victory over Germany’s Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner, sealing a 7-5, 6-2 win in one hour and 27 minutes.

However, there were some setbacks for India in the men’s doubles competition as India’s Yuki Bhambri and New Zealand’s Michael Venus suffered a 3-6, 4-6 defeat to the experienced Italian combination of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the second round.

Bhambri and Venus had started their campaign strongly, defeating Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo and Mariano Kestelboim 7-5, 6-2 in the opening round. Bhambri, however, remains alive in the tournament after progressing in the mixed doubles alongside partner Alexandra Panova.

In the mixed doubles, Yuki Bhambri and Russia’s Alexandra Panova endured a tough defeat in the second round. The pair went down 1-6, 3-6 to last year’s semifinalists Neal Skupski (GB) and Desirae Krawczyk of the USA.

In the junior competition, Arnav Paparkar continued his successful run, advancing to the boys’ singles Round of 16 with a commanding 6-2, 6-4 victory over 15th seed Kuan-Shou Chen of Chinese Taipei. Paparkar will also compete in the boys’ doubles event, where he and Thailand’s Kunanan Pantaratorn will take on Great Britain’s Mark Ceban and Russia’s Kirill Filaretov.

–IANS

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