Bopanna-Mergea crosses first-round hurdle at Madrid Open

Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea came from a set down to get the better of Marin Draganja and Henri Kontinen in the first round of the men's doubles event at the Madrid Open tennis tournament here.

The Indo-Romanian pair defeated the Croat-Finnish combination 5-7 7-6(5) 10-6 to enter the Round of 32 at the USD 4,660,678 event.

Involved in a neck-and-neck battle with the match swinging from one end to another, Bopanna and Mergea managed to maintain their composure to pull off a hard-fought victory.

Bopanna and Mergea kept their nerves to outplay their opponents in the third set tie-breaker at the clay court event.
 

The Indo-Romanian pair saved three break points out of five.