File image of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden© Twitter
The sixth-seeded pairing of India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australian Matthew Ebden beat the duo of Reese Stalder and David Pel to enter the men’s doubles quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Championships on Tuesday. The Indo-Australian duo defeated the combine of American Stalder and Dutchman Pel 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (10-5) in a pre-quarterfinal match that lasted two hours and 19 minutes. Bopanna and Ebden next meet the Dutch duo of Tallon Griekspoor and Bart Stevens.
Meanwhile, Unseeded Marketa Vondrousova said she had a pep talk from her husband during a rain break before roaring back to beat Jessica Pegula and reach her first Wimbledon semi-final on Tuesday. The Czech player, ranked 42nd in the world, clawed her way back from 4-1 down in the deciding set to win 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. The former French Open finalist was trailing 3-1 in the decider when the rain arrived and forced the closure of the roof on Court No. 1.
Fourth seed Pegula held serve comfortably to make it 4-1 when play resumed but Vondrousova then took charge, winning five games in a row to seal victory. The 24-year-old revealed she had spoken to her husband Stepan Simek by phone from the locker room.
“He just said, ‘Try to fight, you are playing good, you are playing a great match’,” she said. “Yeah, that was it. I mean, I think the break helped actually. It was good.”
She was asked whether she would consider getting a tattoo to add to her collection if she goes further at the All England Club. “We’ll see,” she said. “I always loved it here, but I didn’t do so good. My best result was second round. Now I just get better.
“These two weeks are incredible. I just came here and I just said to myself, ‘Just stay open-minded, just try to play your game and everything.’
With AFP inputs
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