Unlike Day 3 of the 2016 US Open where all Indians won their matches, Day 5 turned out to be a major disappointment for Indians fans. The day session proved to be a disaster as both Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna lost their respective matches in men’s doubles leaving the category bereft of any Indian player.
Leander’s loss was a bigger heartbreak as he and his German partner Andre Begemann had put themselves in a comfortable position in their opener against the unseeded duo of Dudi Sela and Stephane Robert. They were up by a set and a break from where they squandered their massive advantage to lose 6-2, 5-7, 4-6 to the Israeli-French team.
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The match duration was 1 hour 59 minutes. Paes and Begemann were presented with as many as 15 break points of which they could only convert four.
Also read: Potential quarter-final face-off between Sania Mirza and Leander Paes in mixed doubles
It would continue to hurt the evergreen Indian icon as he was finally showing some resurgence after months of struggle on the ATP Tour. Just last week, the Indo-German pair reached the final of the Winston-Salem Open where they could not make use of any of the five match points they had en route to a defeat.
Bopanna exits
Rohan Bopanna too did not have better fortunes as he joined the exodus a few minutes later. The Indian, who was playing with former Wimbledon champion Frederik Nielsen, crashed out 2-6, 6(5)-7 to the American-Kiwi duo of Brian Baker and Marcus Daniell.
The Indo-Danish combine suffered three breaks of serve in this second round contest that lasted 1 hour 14 minutes. The Indian could not play with his usual partner, Florin Mergea as the Romanian had got injured before the tournament.
Both Paes and Bopanna have a chance to make amends as both are still alive in the mixed doubles draw. While Paes has progressed to the second round alongside Martina Hingis, Bopanna too won with his partner Gabriela Dabrowski, as they defeated the American pairing of Jamie Rubin and Noah Loeb.
Yadlapalli wins
The only saving grace of the day session was Pranjala Yadlapalli’s win in the first round of junior qualifying in singles. The 17-year-old, who is seeded 12th, thrashed America’s Victoria Emma 6-3, 6-2 in just 1 hour 10 minutes. She had an 83% success in break point conversions having made use of five of the six chances she got.
