Rohan Bopanna-Ivan Dodig pair out of China Open in first round

Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna and his Croatian partner Ivan Dodig suffered a shock loss to the pair of Francisco Cerundolo and Nicolas Jarry in a first round match of the China Open ATP 500 tournament in Beijing on Saturday.

The second-seeded Indo-Croatian pair lost 5-7 6-7 to the unseeded Cerundolo (Argentina) and Jarry (Chile) duo in the round of 16 match that lasted one hour 31 minutes.

Bopanna’s regular partner Matthew Ebden of Australia chose not to participate in the ATP 500 event.

Bopanna has had stints partnering Dodig in the past — in 2017 and 2021 — with their best result being reaching the final at the 2017 ATP Montreal Masters 1000 event.

The 44-year-old Indian won two titles this year — Australian Open Grand Slam event and Miami Open.

Bopanna and Ebden had lost in the round of 16 stage in the US Open doubles earlier this month.