Jamie reaches last eight for first time as seeds fall

Jamie Murray is through to the quarter-finals of the French Open men’s doubles for the first time with partner Bruno Soares.

The pair defeated India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 7-6 (7/5) 6-2.

Murray, pictured, and Brazilian Soares, who won the Australian and US Open titles last season, are one of only three seeded pairs left and the highest ranked.

Murray said: “Always in grand slams, sections of the draw open up. It’s rare that all the top seeds get through. This tournament everyone’s been losing and we’ve kind of just been there watching.

“It’s a big opportunity for us now to progress far in the tournament. We’ll just do our best to focus on each match and fight for every point like we did today.

“It was a real battle out there, especially the first set was really close, really high level from everyone, I thought. We’re really proud of ourselves for what we managed to do today.” Murray and Soares next meet Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and America’s Donald Young.

In the second round, Murray and Soares beat Mikhail Elgin and Karen Khachanov, the young Russian who faces Andy Murray in the fourth round of the singles today.

The younger Murray has not yet sought advice from his brother, who said: “I think he’s practised with him a few times so he knows what’s coming. If Andy’s playing well then I’m sure he starts as a pretty strong favourite.”