Bopanna and Shapovalov knockout of US tourney’s opener

Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov have been knocked out of the Western and Southern Open men’s doubles event.

They were ousted in the opening round of the tournament after returning to action after five months out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although there was some rustiness expected on the part of the duo, that wasn’t the case. They didn’t just give Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos easy passage into the next round.

Granollers and Zeballos, who are the to 2019 US Open runners-ups, won the game 4-6 6-7(1) against Bopanna and Shapovalov. The winners of the hardcourt tournament stand to take home USD 42,22,190.

The tournament, a build-up to the US Open, was the first competitive match for the Indian since his participation in the Davis Cup tie for his country against Croatia in March. He partnered veteran Leander Paes in the game.

Bopanna, who began his pairing with Shapovalov consistently since the Indian Wells Masters last year. He had started the tournament with compatriot with Divij Sharan.

Speaking with PTI after their ouster, Bopanna, who came straight into the tournament without any tune-up game, said it was a close match and further expressed his satisfaction at their performance, especially after not playing for five months.

While nothing that they had faced a very good pair, Bopanna said, they played well and noted that they had some chance.

In the game, they failed to take the opportunity by losing three deuce points in a row when their opponents served at 2-3. The other deuces lost were on his serve at 3-3 and their serve at 4-3.

Apart from the deuces points, they failed to take in those three games, Bopanna also said it was a close affair in the second set where they hung in but lost to them in the tie-break.

Now that they are out of the competition, the Indians revealed that they would be preparing for the US Open by beginning practice in the next few days.

 
 
Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed