Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna exit Indian Wells doubles in opener
Sania Mirza-Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Rohan Bopanna-Rajeev Ram lost their opening round ties to Lisa Raymond-Samantha Stosur and janko Tipsarevic-Lukasz Kubot, respectively.
All was not well for Indian doubles challenge in the Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open as Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna exited the USD 6,020,268 tournament, losing their opening round matches on Friday.
Eighth-seeded Indo-US pair of Sania and Bethanie Mattek Sands were knocked out 7-6 3-6 6-10 by unseeded pairing of Lisa Raymond of US and Australian Samantha Stosur.
Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna, partnering American Rajeev Ram, failed to win a set in a 4-6 6-7 loss to Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.
There was not much to choose from between the two teams, apart from a high-quality first serves of Kubot and Tipsarevic in the first set. They were near spotless with a 93 per cent success on the first serve in the opening set as compared to Bopanna-Ram's 76 per cent.
A more improved game by Bopanna and Ram in the second game was just not enough as they lost 6(4)-7 in the tie break.
Number three seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Daniel Nestor open their campaign against Feliciano Lopez and Milos Raonic, while, seeded seventh Leander Paes and Jurgen Melzer take on Benoit Paire and Stanislas Wawrinka in their round one tie on Saturday.