INDIA’S Rohan Bopanna and Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin, the 14th-seeds, knocked out sixth-seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden in a long-drawn, rain-interrupted clash to enter the semi-finals in the Wimbledon on Wednesday (July 3).
Bopanna and Vasselin were leading the fifth set 5-2 with Vasselin to serve for the match when the Swede objected to the dank, dismal conditions. As the skies opened up, the players left the court.
After 90-minutes, when they returned, the Frenchman served out the match at 40-15, needing only a couple of minutes on the lawns. The 7-5, 7-6 (3-7), 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (3-7), 6-2 result put the 33-year-old Bopanna in his first Wimbledon semifinal.
In the last four, Bopanna and Vasselin will play the winner of the other quarterfinal between top-seeded American twins Bob and Mike Bryan and India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Julian Knowle of Austria.
Bopanna and Vasselin made a solid start, but were rocked back in the 11th game of the opening set when the Frenchman faced two breakpoints on his serve.
Aided by a mix of some strong serving as well as an error from Lindstedt, the Indian-French pair held. They then broke the Nestor serve in the 12th game when a Vasselin forehand whistled past the opposition, to wrest the early advantage.
The 14th-seeds then quickly wrapped up the second set tie-break. Nestor and Lindstedt won two tie-breaks to level scores and push the match into the decider.
This time the Indo-French duo broke as early as the third game and though Vasselin's serve was tested in the fourth game, they held firm to break again in the fifth game.
