Bopanna-Mergea beaten in Madrid Open final

Defending champions Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea were beaten 4-6, 6-7 (5) by Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the men's doubles final of the Madrid Open tennis tournament.

The Dutch-Romanian pair didn't drop a set en route to their first title of the season here on Sunday. They jumped out to an early lead in the final, earning a break to go up 3-1 in the first set.

They served out the set on their first attempt. Neither side, though, lost their serve in the second. In the tie-break, Rojer-Tecau landed a mini-break to win in straight sets and improve to 5-0 against the Indo-Romanian pair.

"I want to thank my partner for having another great week," Tecau said after the final, as quoted by atpworldtour.com.

"We were struggling for a few weeks, couldn't win a lot of matches.... It feels great to play well together and get another title."

Rojer-Tecau lost just a single point on their first serve (39/40). They now have 12 tour-level titles and three on clay since they started playing together in 2014.

"We've been chasing this one for almost three years," Tecau said. "We're really excited to get this one because it comes after having a few early exits in Masters (1000 events) this year. So it means a lot to us."

Rojer said the match was especially difficult because the teams are close friends.

"They are a great team, and also friends," Rojer said. "It's never easy to play these matches, difficult for all four guys."

Rojer-Tecau received 1,000 doubles rankings points and ?2,82,720 (around $3,21,919).

Bopanna-Mergea, who are still seeking their first title of the season, will get 600 rankings points and ?138,400 (around $1,57,617).

--IANS

sam/vm