Defending doubles champion Rohan Bopanna has been knocked out of the Australian Open in the first round on Tuesday. The Indian, along with his partner Barrientos, suffered a 7-5, 7-6 defeat at the hands of Martinez and Munar. The match, which lasted for close to two hours, saw the Indo-Colombian duo get off to a good start but falter later, allowing their opposition to cruise to victory.
Rohan Bopanna, partner face first round exit in Australian Open
Bopanna and Barrientos got off to a bright start and dominated the first few games. While the first set went down the wire, it was the Spaniard duo of Martinez and Munar who clinched a crucial break towards the end to win the first set 7-5.
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Bopanna and his partner fought back hard in the second set. The game saw a neck-to-neck competition between the two pairs. While the du of Martinez and Munar took a 5-3 lead at one point of time, Bopanna and Barrientos staged a strong comeback, managing to level the scores at 5-5. The set went to a tie-break in which the Spaniard duo edged past the 14th seeds 7-5 to clinch the match. With this defeat, Rohan is set to be out of the top 20 rankings for men’s doubles. Prior to the tournament, he was 16th ranked.
Bopanna, alongside Australian partner Matthew Ebden, defeated the Italian pair of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori last year to win the men’s doubles title.