Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna and Australian partner Matthew Ebden were knocked out in the third round of the 2024 US Open men’s doubles event on Sunday.
The only other Indian left in the men’s doubles draw, Yuki Bhambri, was also defeated in the third round along with his French partner Albano Olivetti.
In a match that lasted 66 minutes, second seeds Bopanna and Ebden were handed a 1-6, 5-7 defeat by the Argentinian team of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.
The Argentines were in dominant form on their own serve, not allowing a single break point opportunity to the higher ranked Indo-Australian pair throughout the match.
Instead, they challenged their opponents, breaking Bopanna and Ebden’s serve three times throughout the match to claim the win.
Earlier, in the opening match of the day at the Grandstand court, Bhambri and Olivetti were handed a 2-6, 2-6 defeat by top seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos.
Bhambri and Olivetti were outclassed, not managing to get to a break point on the opposition serve. Zeballos and Granollers meanwhile broke the Indo-French team’s serve twice in each set, in a match that lasted 62 minutes, as they made their way into the quarter-final.
With the defeats on Monday, India’s campaign in the men’s doubles event comes to an end. Earlier in the tournament, India’s only singles player Sumit Nagal was beaten in the first round by Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.
Bopanna however, still remains active in the US Open mixed doubles event.
He has paired up with Indonesia’s Aldila Sutjiadi, but will compete against his men’s doubles partner in the quarter-final.
Bopanna and Sutjiadi, seeded eight, will face fourth seeds Ebden and reigning Wimbledon singles champion Barbora Krejcikova on Tuesday for a spot in the semi-final.