Bopanna-Ebden bows out of Italian Open

The Indo-Australian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden bowed out of the ATP Italian Open following a pre-quarterfinal loss to local hopes Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori here.

The second seeds went down 2-6 4-6 in a match that lasted one hour and 13 minutes on Tuesday. They had defeated wildcards Matteo Arnaldi and Francesco Passaro in their opening round clash. It was a disappointing day for Bopanna and Ebden, who were broken twice in the first set. Their opponents, however, did not concede a single break point in the opener.

The Indo-Australian combination also double-faulted twice to concede the early initiative. In the second set too, Bopanna and Ebden continued to be on the backfoot and were broken thrice. They did manage to break their rivals Bolelli and Vavassori twice but were out of depth overall. The defeat continues a poor recent run that included a first-round exit from the Madrid Masters earlier this month.

Bopanna and Ebden have nonetheless enjoyed a good run on the circuit, winning the Australian Open men's doubles title this year. Last year, they won the Indian Wells Masters which made the 43-year-old Indian the oldest ever ATP Masters 1000 champion. The duo made the men's doubles semi-finals at Wimbledon and the final of the US Open in the same season. Bopanna also became the oldest world number one in doubles, thanks to the Australian Open triumph In January.