Prime-seeded Indo-Australian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Mathew Ebden bowed out of the ATP Mutua Madrid Open after a stunning first-round loss to the unheralded duo of Sebastian Korda and Jordan Thompson.
Bopanna and Ebden, who’re the reigning Australian Open males’s doubles champions, went down 7-6 (4), 7-5 in a contest that lasted one hour and 17 minutes.
Squaring off for the primary time, the American-Australian duo matched Bopanna and Ebden shot for shot.
Korda and Thompson displayed a robust service sport and saved the lone break level they conceded within the opening set.
To their credit score, Bopanna and Ebden additionally didn’t enable Korda and Thompson to transform the three breaks factors they ended up conceding. Nonetheless, Korda and Thompson managed to achieve the upper-hand by clinching the set in a tie-breaker.
Korda and Thompson gained in confidence and managed to interrupt Bopanna and Ebden as soon as from the 4 possibilities that got here their means.
The highest seeds, in distinction, couldn’t exert any such strain, leading to an early exit from the match, being performed on clay.
The uncommon setback however, Bopanna and Ebden have loved a superb run on the circuit, successful the Indian Wells Masters final yr which made the 43-year-old Indian the oldest ever ATP Masters 1000 champion.
The duo made the boys’s doubles semifinals at Wimbledon and the ultimate of the US Open in the identical season.
Earlier this yr, Bopanna additionally turned the oldest world primary in doubles due to the Australian Open triumph.