Bopanna and Mergea crash out of BNP Paribas Open

After crashing out of the Dubai Tennis Championships in the first round in February, Bopanna and Florin Mergea once again faced a shock first round exit, this time losing to Marc Lopez and Feliciano Lopez in the 2016 BNP Paribas Open. The Indo-Romanian pair started the match brightly breaking the Spaniards twice in the first set to take the opening set 6-2. Bopanna and Mergea dominated the serves winning 94% of the service points while Marc and Feliciano only managed 63%.

However, the second game proved to be a totally different contest with the Spaniards mounting a spirited comeback. They broke Bopanna and Mergea once and almost put them on the verge of another by dominating the service points, which had deserted them in the opening set. With the unseeded pair in a good rhythm, Bopanna and Mergea found themselves under pressure and committed double faults and silly errors to surrender the second set 4-6.

In the decider, the Indo-Romanian duo continued their romance with double faults and committed two to gift the advantage to their rivals. Marc Lopez and Feliciano Lopez took the chance with both hands and romped home to register an upset victory by claiming the decider 10-4 to move into the second round.

(Read about Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis' first round victory in BNP Paribas Open)