Indian Wells Masters: Rohan Bopanna-Pablo Cuevas lose to Novak Djokovic-Viktor Troicki in 1st round

Indian Wells: Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas yet again failed to click as a team, losing the closely-fought opening round of the ATP Indian Wells Masters to Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki on Friday night.

Bopanna and Cuevas lost 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 to the Serbian combination in one hour and six minutes. The winners logged 55 points, just two more than Bopanna and Cuevas.

The Indo-Uruguayan pair, who were the favourites, started on a positive note by winning the first set comfortably. They outplayed the Serbian pair in every department to take a crucial lead.

The second set saw a brilliant fightback from the Serbians, leading to the decisive tie-breaker.

In the third set, the Indo-Uruguayan pair led till 4-2 but soon the Serbs upped the ante and prevailed over the former 10-7 to clinch the match.

Bopanna and his partner from Uruguay were playing their third tournament together this season and have managed to win just one match at the Australian Open.

Bopanna was hoping for better results, specifically at the Grand Slams, after teaming up with singles world number 30 for the 2017 season. They had lost first round at Apia International in Sydney and now here.

Bopanna though has enjoyed good results with other partners. He won title at the season-opening Chennai Open with compatriot Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and ended runners-up with Poland’s Marcin Matkowski in Dubai last week.

Indian challenge is still alive in the ATP Masters event with Leander Paes and Juan Martin del Potro set to challenge Sam Querry and Gilles Muller in their opening round.