CINCINNATI: Back in action after five months, Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Denis Shapovalov lost in the opening round of the Western and Southern Open men's doubles event but not before making it as tough as possible for Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos here.
Bopanna and Shapovalov lost 4-6 6-7(1) to 2019 US Open runners-ups in the first round match of the USD 42,22,190 hard court tournament, which is a build-up to the US Open.
It was the first competitive match for Bopanna since the Davis Cup tie against Croatia in March, along side veteran Leander Paes.
Bopanna has been pairing with Shapovalov consistently since the Indian Wells Masters last year, which he had started by pairing with compatriot with Divij Sharan.
"It was indeed a very close match. I am very satisfied, to be honest, with the way we played, especially after five months, coming straight into a tournament. (We were) playing against a very good team out there," Bopanna told PTI.
"I thought I would be little rusty but played pretty good, we had some chances. We lost three deuce points in a row when they served at 2-3 and then on my serve at 3-3 and when they served at 4-3, so those three games we had deuce points but they did not go our way.
"The second set was again close, we hung in there but in tie-break they were better team. Overall, satisfied with the start nevertheless. We will be practising for the next few days for the US Open," he said.
The US Open starts August 31 in New York.