Yuki Bhambri-Michael Venus stormed into the second round of the French Open doubles

Yuki Bhambri of India and Michael Venus of New Zealand (Image: X) PARIS: India’s Yuki Bhambri and New Zealand’s Michael Venus negotiated a tough opening match against Argentina’s Francisco Cerundola and Mariano Kestelboim as they cruised past 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the French Open men’s doubles.Bhambri and Venus, who played the final at the ATP 250 Series event in Geneva last week, arrived in Paris late on Saturday. They started their opening set slowly, trailing by a break in the opening set before picking up the pace and finishing in one hour and 22 minutes.In the second round, Bhambri and Venus, who reached the semi-finals of the US Open last year after the Kiwi withdrew with an injury that required surgery and did not return to the Tour until March, could face fifth-seeded Italians Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolleli.Earlier in the day, Sriram Balaji and Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil defeated Germany’s Constantin Frantzen and Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in one hour and 45 minutes.The Indian-Brazilian pair could play ninth seed Guido Andreozzi of Argentina and France’s Manuel Gunnard in the second round.