Rome [Italy], May 17 (NT): Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna and his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin will intend to winning-kick-start their campaign at the Rome Masters when they will play their second round of the men's doubles event here on Thursday.

On a promising note Bopanna and Vasselin, who had received a bye in the opening round of the tournament, are yet to mark win to the court in Foro Italico.

Bopanna- Vasselin, Indo-French duo is due to take on Argentina's Pablo Cuevas and Spain's Marcel Granollers in the last-16 outings.

Very last week, Bopanna and Vasselin bowed out in the second round of the Madrid Open after crashing to a 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 5-10 beat at the hands of the South African-New Zealand team of Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus.

In another men's doubles fight, the Spaniard duo of Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez would also aim to make a winning start when they take on the Argentinean pair of Juan Martin del Potro and Leonardo Mayer in their second clash of the Rome Masters.

World number two Rafael Nadal  will continue his quest for the record-breaking eighth Rome Masters title when he will lock horns with Canada's Denis Shapovalov in the last-16 of the men's singles event here on Thursday.

(NT)