Paris, May 31 (IANS) Indian tennis players’ disappointing run in the French Open continued as sixth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna lost in the men’s doubles first round here Thursday.
The Indian pair lost 6-1, 5-7, 3-6 to the French pair of Marc Gicquel and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
The Indian duo had more aces and winners than their opponents besides zero double faults and unforced errors, but that wasn’t to be enough.
Bhupathi and Bopanna swept through the first set only for their opponents to hit back in the second and then also take the third and the match.
Bopanna, pairing with Lisa Raymond in the mixed doubles, went down 6-7, 6-4, 6-10 to the unseeded team of Natalie Grandin and Paul Hanley in the opening round.
Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands had crashed out of the women’s doubles Tuesday.
It was not all sour for the Indians though as Leander Paes teaming up with Russian Elena Vesnina sailed through to the second round of mixed doubles Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-1 over Czech pair Lucie Hradecka and Frantisek Cermak.
Seventh seeded Sania and Bhupathi in mixed doubles too comfortably advanced to the second round with a 6-2, 6-4 win over American team of Raquel Kops-Jones and Eric Butorac.
