Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov crash out of Madrid Open quarter-finals
The duo had earlier taken down the top seeds in the Round of 16...
Indian doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov crashed out of the Madrid Open tournament on Friday night.
The duo were beaten by the German pair of Alexander Zverev and Tim Puetz in a closely-fought encounter (6-4, 3-6, 10-5).
Bopanna and Shapovalov had a sluggish start to the game against the Germans who dominated the early exchanges to get a break in the first set.
Zverev, who took to court after defeating Rafael Nadal in singles, and Puetz won the first set without any complications. But Bopanna and Shapovalov got their act together in the second set. A decisive break saw them take a 5-3 lead which ultimately saw them level the match.
However, in the match tie-break, Zverev and Puetz raced to a 5-0 lead and eventually won the tie-break 10-5.
Earlier in the Round of 16, Bopanna had earned his first win in 2021 on the ATP Tour when he and Shapovalov had taken down the top-ranked doubles pair of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
Bopanna and Shapovalov were on cruise control in the game against Cabal and Farah, winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.