Bhupathi - Dellacqua crash out of French Open Mixed Doubles

File Photo: Mahesh Bhupathi

India’s doubles failure at the French Open 2013 continued as the Indo-Australian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Casey Dellacqua lost in the first round.

Bhupathi and Dellacqua, seeded no. 7 for the tournament, lost the opening set to Anastasia Rodionova and Santiago Gonzalez, 6-4, after the newly formed combo committed too many unforced errors.

However, the Indo-Australian pair came out very strong and left their unseeded counterparts clueless, eventually taking the second set, 6-1.

A super tie-breaker (of 10 points) followed thereafter. Rodionova and Gonzalez took an early lead, but Bhupathi and Dellacqua recorded some spectacular points to level up the score at halfway. But Rodionova and Gonzalez produced some superior shots and ultimately won the super-tiebreaker 11-9 to win the encounter, 6-4, 1-6, 11-9, in a close affair.

Mahesh Bhupathi didn’t do well this year at the Roland Garros, unlike  last year where he won the mixed doubles title with compatriot Sania Mirza.