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ESPN staff
India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Croatian partner Franko Skugor‘s run at the French Open came to an end on Monday. Bopanna and Skugor lost 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals to the Spanish duo of Pablo Andujar and Pedro Martinez in one hour, 17 minutes.
Bopanna and Skugor had the better start to the match, breaking the Spaniards in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead. However, Andujar and Martinez broke straight back in the next game. The set proceeded on serve until, serving to stay in the set down 5-6, Bopanna and Skugor went down 15-40 and were broken for the set on the first of two break points. Andujar and Martinez were slightly better at winning points on their first serve and in winning points on return, winning a total of 36 points in the set to 30 for Bopanna and Skugor.
The second set proceeded on serve until, serving down 3-4, Bopanna and Skugor trailed 0-40 and were broken on the second break point for the Spaniards to take a 5-3 lead. Andujar and Martinez then served out the match relatively comfortably. They were again the better team, winning more points on first serve, on return and converting the break points they had to win 31 points to 20 for the Indo-Croatian duo.
Bopanna, 41, was not defending any points this year at Roland Garros. His quarterfinal appearance will earn him 360 points, which means his ranking should improve from 40 to around 34.
Qualification to the Tokyo Olympics will be on the basis of players’ rankings as of the cutoff date of June 14, 2021. In the men’s and women’s doubles, 32 teams qualify. Up to 10 places are reserved for players in the top 10, who can pick a partner from the top 300. Teams with the best combined rankings take the remaining spots. Despite Bopanna’s rise up the rankings, it remains to be seen if he will qualify as Divij Sharan, his potential partner, is currently ranked 74 in the world and lost in the first round at Roland Garros.
As of now, the only player assured of a place in Tokyo is Sania Mirza, who will likely team up with Ankita Raina in the women’s doubles.