Australian Open 2025: Defending champion Rohan Bopanna suffers shocking first round exit in men’s doubles

Tennis star and defending champion Rohan Bopanna has been knocked out of the Australian Open 2025 in the opening round on January 14. The Indian player, along with his partner Nicolas Barrientos, suffered a 7-5, 7-6 defeat at the hands of stalwarts Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar. This thrilling game, which lasted for close to two hours, saw the Indian-Colombian pair get off to a good start but fail to continue their momentum and falter later, allowing their opposition to cruise to a thrilling win.

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🎾 can be cruel sometimes!
Heartbreaking 💔 loss for Rohan Bopanna !

Defending champion 🏆 crashes in the first round of #AusOpen in straight sets!

Made a comeback in 2nd set from 5-3 down while Spanish pair serving for the match, took match to tiebreaker & Almost won 😭🥲 pic.twitter.com/BP0mxaDAgE

— Jackson Dass Antony (@AJacksonDass) January 14, 2025

Notably, Bopanna and Barrientos got off to a stunning start and dominated in the first few games. However, the first set went to the wire; it was Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar, the Spaniard pair, who clinched a crucial break towards the end to win the first set by 7-5.

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Defending Champion Rohan Bopanna lost in Round 1 .#AustralianOpen2025pic.twitter.com/ie0hYGeX7h

— Team Bharat 🇮🇳 🥇 (@YTStatslive) January 14, 2025

In addition, Bopanna and his partner fought back hard in the next set. The game saw neck-to-neck competition between them. However, they failed to carry the momentum and were knocked out of the showpiece event.

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden had won the 2024 doubles title

Newly joined pair of Rohan Bopanna & Nicolas Barrientos in action now ! #AusOpen#AusOpenpic.twitter.com/9ZZJSargsl

— Jackson Dass Antony (@AJacksonDass) January 14, 2025

It's worth mentioning to note that Bopanna, alongside his partner Matthew Ebden, defeated the Italian pair Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori last year to win the doubles title. With this defeat, India's legend is out of the top 20 rankings for men's doubles.

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