French Open: Bhupathi-Bopanna seeded 6th, Paes-Peya 7th

Paris: Battling to be in top-10 before the 11 June cut-off mark for the London Olympics, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna were today drawn against French team of Marc Gicquel and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in their men’s doubles opening round of the French Open here. Bopanna and Bhupathi, ranked 12th and 13th respectively,  need to be in top-10 to make a direct entry into the men’s doubles event of the London Olympics. [caption id=“attachment_322853” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“AFP. File photo”]  [/caption] A top-10 player has the liberty to choose his partner, irrespective of his ranking, for the competition although the final decision is taken by the national association. Meanwhile, Leander Paes, who is ranked seven, will play at the clay court Grand Slam with Austrian player Alexander Peya. They have been seeded seventh and open their campaign against Italian combination of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini. Paes’ regular partner for the season Radek Stepanek is skipping the second major tournament of the calender due to some prior commitments. Meanwhile, in the women’s double draw, Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the winners of the Brussels Open last week, have been seeded 15th. They open their campaign against the Argentinian pair of Gisela Dulko and Paola Suarez. Sania, world number 10 in doubles, was a runners-up here last season with Russian partner Elena Vesnina. PTI