Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea fought past the pair of Marin Cilic and Frank Moser to make it to the quarterfinals of the Euro 642,070 Mercedes Cup, here today.
The fourth seed Indo-Romanian pair faced a stiff resistance from the 2014 US Open champion Cilic and Moser before prevailing 6-3 7-6 (10) in 70 minutes in a tough opening round of the grass court tournament.
Courtesy an early break, Bopanna and Mergea raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set and pocketed it easily. However the second set was an altogether different ball game as Croatia's Cilic and his German partner fought tooth and nail.
There was no break of serve and it was decided via tie-breaker, in which Bopanna and Mergea needed five match points to seal it.
Cilic and Moser had a set point but the fourth seeds saved that.
They now the winner of the other first round match between the pairs of Andreas Seppi/Viktor Troicki and Mate Pavic/Michael Venus.
