McLachlan n out of doubles after tight firstround loss

BEN McLachlan has lost a tight opening round match at Roland Garros.

The Queenstown doubles specialist and partner Luke Bambridge were beaten 64, 76 (74) by European duo Wesley

Koolhof and Nikola Metic yesterday. The French Open remains the only grand slam in which

McLachlan has not reached the quarterfinals.

As is often the case in doubles, little separated the pairs.

McLachlan/Bambridge dropped just one game on their own serve.

But it proved the difference, ninth seeds Koolhof/Metic winning the break on a sixshot rally to go 21 up in the first set.

From there they held serve to claim the first set.

It was the only opportunity either had to break, both playing cleanly through the second set to force a tiebreak.

McLachlan/Bambridge fell behind on a double fault, but pegged back the point to get back to 44.

But Koolhof/Metic won a crucial point against the serve, before closing the match out by holding their serve.

New Zealander Marcus Daniell and Austrian partner Philipp Oswald were also beaten in the first round.

Daniell and Oswald lost 62, 63 to seventh seeds Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares.