India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea failed to cross the final hurdle at the Madrid Masters final on Sunday.
The sixth-seed Indo-Romanian pair lost to 3rd-seeded pair Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 4-6, 6-7 (5) in the doubles final that lasted an hour and 11 minutes.
It was crucial for Bopanna to win since he was defending 1000 points. He is striving to re-enter the top-10 in the run up to Rio Olympic Games in order to win a direct entry into the prestigious event.
There was little to separate the two pairs in the tight contest.
Bopanna and Mergea got only one breakpoint in the opening set which they could not convert while Jean-Julien Roger and Horia Tecau did not miss the one break-opportunity they got.
In the second too, it was very close as there was no break of serve and it had to be decided via tie-breaker, in which the third seeds prevailed.
