Rohan Bopanna’s loss ends Indian hopes at French Open

Veteran Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna exited the French Open men’s doubles after a first-round loss late on Thursday.

Bopanna and partner Denis Shapovalov lost 6-2, 6-2 to American-Canadian pair and 2014 Wimbledon men’s doubles champions Jack Sock and Vasek Pospisil.

This followed Divij Sharan’s opening round loss a day earlier, ending India’s challenge at the French Open.

It was a battle against fatigue for Bopanna’s young Canadian partner Shapovalov as he played the doubles with hardly any rest after losing a gruelling five-setter against Roberto Carballes Baena in the singles. That match had lasted five hours.

Sock-Pospisil won the opening game on serve and then quickly reeled off four consecutive points on Bopanna-Shapovalov’s serve to win their first break point and move into a 2-0 lead in the first set.

Both pairs then held serve until the eighth game. Sock-Pospisil, leading 5-2 at that point, allowed Bopanna-Shapovalov no points on the latter’s service game, breaking them for a second time to wrap up the opening set 6-2.

The second set then flowed smoothly until the fourth game when Bopanna-Shapovalov faltered on their serve. The Indo-Canadian pair allowed their opponents three break points and though they saved one point, Sock-Pospisil managed to win the next to move into a 3-1 lead.

The American-Canadian pair then faced their first break point in the seventh game but Bopanna-Shapovalov were unable to convert it, allowing Sock-Pospisil to take a 5-2 lead in the second set.

In what was then a repeat of the opening set, Bopanna-Shapovalov fought hard with their serves in the eighth game.

However, they ultimately allowed Sock-Pospisil a break point, which the latter duly converted it, like they had done for much of the match, to close out the match and move into the second round.

Sock-Pospisil will now face French sixth seeds Nicholas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the second round on Friday.