Matches
Doubles SF - Bhupathi. M/Bopanna. R vs Erlich. J/Ram. A
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Winner: Erlich. J / Ram. A
| Bhupathi. M/Bopanna. R | 6 | 3 | 8 |
| Erlich. J/Ram. A | 4 | 6 | 10 |
Bhupathi-Bopanna crash out in semifinals
CHENNAI, India, Jan. 7, 2012 - The top-seeded Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna lost in the semifinals of the Aircel Chennai Open 2012 on Saturday, going down to fourth seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.
The Indian duo, who announced in December that they would be pairing up on the Tour in 2012 with their sights firmly set on Olympic success in London in July, won the opening set in style.
"For a good 40 minutes we dominated the game in all aspects. A few strategic errors allowed them to come back in," said Bhupathi, who won the doubles crown along with Leander Paes for a record fifth time here last year.
"We should have won. But the good part is that, we have three good matches under the belt before going to the Australian Open," added Bhupathi, who is ranked No. 7 in the world in doubles.
The Indian duo, however, wasted a break point in the seventh game of the second set, as the Israeli pair, finalists in 2004, staged a remarkable comeback, mixing percentage tennis with aggression.
"The way we dominated in the first one and a half sets, they had to raise their game several notches, which they did, especially in the tie-break. They played some amazing shots... sometimes you win, sometimes you don't," said Bopanna, who is ranked No. 11 in the world in doubles..
The super tie-break ran close to begin with, but at 4-all, the Israeli duo took a two-point lead and drove home the advantage.
"Our strength is our serves, we should have closed matches on serve," said Bhupathi.
The Indian pair will fly to Melbourne next and practice to acclimatize ahead of the Australian Open starting later this month.
