Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin reach semis in Sydney International with two wins in a row

Sydney: Rohan Bopanna began his partnership with Edouard Roger-Vasselin with consecutive straight-set wins in a single day to reach the semifinals of the Sydney International, here on Wednesday.

Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin resumed their first match against Ivan Dodig and Fernando Verdasco, leading 4-3 with a break up, and went on to beat them 6-4, 6-4 in 68 minutes.

In the gruelling quarterfinals, the fourth seeds vanquished Fabrice Martin and Nicholas Monroe 7-6(5), 7-6(5) after battling hard for one hour and 34 minutes.

They will next take on the top-seeded pair of Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.

Bopanna had played with Pablo Cuevas in the previous season. In the season-opening Tata Open Maharashtra, the tall Coorgi paired with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan but failed to defend their title.

They lost in the quarterfinals to the French team of Gilles Simon and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.