Indian tennis round-up: Rohan Bopanna crashes out of Rome Masters, Yuki Bhambri loses in Busan
Thursday did not prove to be a great day for Indian tennis stars as both Rohan Bopanna and Yuki Bhambri lost their respective matches. At the Internazionali BNL D’Italia in Rome, the seventh seeded pair of Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin were upset 6-7(5), 4-6 by the unseeded Uruguayan-Spanish combine of Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers in the second round.
The Indo-French pair produced five aces and won 69% of their first serve points. However, they were let down on the second serves, where they could grab just 39% of the points. In contrast, Cuevas and Granollers won 81% of their first serve points and 56% of their second serve points.
The unseeded duo was especially resolute on the break points, saving four out of the five they faced. The only time that they dropped serve was in the first set but they also managed to break Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin before taking the set in a tie-break.
In the second set, they did not concede any break point and needed just a solitary break of serve to close out the win in 1 hour 32 minutes.
After a great start to the clay season, that saw Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin reach the semi-finals in Monte Carlo and the quarter-finals in Barcelona, the pair has struggled to win matches at the Madrid Masters and now in Rome. With this latest loss, they are now on a three-match losing streak.
Bhambri goes out early in Busan
At the Busan Challenger in Korea, the India No. 1 and second seed Yuki Bhambri could hardly provide any resistance to the 265th ranked Ze Zhang of China and went down 4-6, 3-6 in the second round. The World No. 94 had returned to this tournament after a one-month break due to a minor foot problem.
Bhambri had won his last tournament -- the Taipei Challenger. He will next set his sights on getting some practice on clay at the Geneva Open before heading to the French Open, where he has got a direct entry.
At the Samarkand Challenger in Uzbekistan, qualifier N Sriram Balaji lost a tight two-setter, 6-7(5), 6-7(3) to the second seed Attila Balazs in the second round.