Bopanna-Mergea knocked out of Dubai tennis event

The Indian challenge at the USD 2.2 million Dubai Tennis Championships ended with Rohan Bopanna and his partner suffering a shock first round exit in the men’s doubles here on Wednesday. Second seeds Bopanna and Romanian Florin Mergea lost to the unseeded Canadian-Czech pairing of Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-7(6), 4-10 in an hour and 24 minutes on Court No.3.

Yuki Bhambri and Mahesh Bhupathi had lost their respective opening matches on Tuesday. The Indo-Romanian pair dominated the first set, winning 29 of the 49 points played. Though the unseeded combine earned three breakpoint chances, they wasted them all.