Melbourne: The country’s challenge at the men’s doubles event of the Australian Open came crashing down in a single day with three pairs featuring Indians suffering first round defeats, here Wednesday.
The 15th seeded Indian duo of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, who began their partnership with a bang in Pune, lost 1-6, 6-4, 5-7 to the unseeded Spanish pair of Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
It was the second straight first-round defeat for the new Indian team on the tour after their triumph at the Tata Open tennis tournament in Pune. Last week, they had lost in the opening round at the Sydney International.
Competing in his 24th Australian Open, veteran Leander Paes and his partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela saved a few match points but eventually fell 5-7, 6-7(4-7) to American-Kiwi combo of Austin Krajicek and Artem Sitak.
Also making the first round exit was Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and his partner Nicholas Monroe, who lost 6-4, 6-7(8-10), 5-7 to Kevin Krawietz and Nikola Mektic after fighting hard for two hours and 20 minutes.
PTI