ATP Hamburg Open: Balaji-Bopanna exit in the first round

Olympic-bound Indian men's doubles pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Sriram Balaji suffered a one-sided straight-set defeat in the first round of the ATP Hamburg Open in Germany, on Thursday.

This was their first tournament of the year as a pair but didn't have a good outing as they conceded a heavy (1-6, 4-6) defeat to the home pairing of Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner at this ATP 500 tournament.

The start of the match was much better as Rohan comfortably held on to his serve in the second game of the set. But then, a nervous-looking Balaji couldn't hold on to his serve and gave the advantage to the Germans.

The trouble continued for the Indian pairing as the Germans won another break but this time on the serve of Rohan Bopanna. Hence, they conceded the opening set by winning just a single game, 1-6.

The second set had a much more improved showing as Balaji found his first hold of the match. The set was closely poised on 3-3, but the Germans found another break after saving two game points in game seven on Balaji's serve.

Rohan and Balaji looked out of sync and eventually, the host pairing closed the match using their excellent net play and took the second set 6-4. However, the Indians have one more chance next week to find a coordination before Paris Olympics

The End of the Indian Campaign

The second Indian pairing of Jeevan Neduncheziyan and Vishnu Prasanth also suffered a straight-set loss (1-6, 4-6) with a similar scoreline against another German pairing of Tim Pütz and Kevin Krawietz.

This defeat has also confirmed that the Indian campaign will be ended in the first round of this ATP 500 tournament in Hamburg, Germany.