The Indian doubles specialist and his Romanian partner defeated the Scottish-Canadian team 2-6, 6-1, 10-3 in the opening round of the US $1,753,020 hard-court event.
There was no looking back for Bopanna and Mergea after they won the second set as they outplayed Murray-Nestor in the super tie-break.
The Indo-Romanian combine next face the Bulgarian-American pair of Grigor Dimitrov and Mardy Fish.
There is no Indian featuring in the singles following the first round defeat of Somdev Devvarman in the qualifying round.
Image: Rohan Bopanna
Photograph: Getty Images
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