Sydney International: Rohan Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin reach doubles' semifinals

Sydney: Rohan Bopanna began his partnership with Edouard Roger-Vasselin with consecutive straight sets win 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 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 quarter-finals to French team of Gilles Simon and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.