PARIS: India’s Yuki Bhambri and New Zealand’s Michael Venus negotiated a tough opener against Argentines Francisco Cerundolo and Mariano Kestelboim, coming through 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the French Open men’s doubles.Bhambri and Venus, who played the final in the ATP 250 Series event in Geneva last week, arrived in Paris late on Saturday. They started their opener slowly, trailing by a break in the opening set before picking up pace to close in an hour and 22-minutes.In the second round, Bhambri and Venus, who made the semifinals of the US Open last year, after which the Kiwi was out with injury that needed surgery, and only returned to the Tour in March, could run into the fifth seeds Italians Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolleli next.Earlier in the day, Sriram Balaji and Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil put out Germany’s Constantin Frantzen and Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in one-hour and 45 minutes.The Indo-Brazilian pairing could play ninth seeds Guido Andreozzi of Argentina and Frenchman Manuel Guinnard in the second round.
