The Indian challenge at the Italian Open in men's doubles has ended with the exit of Rohan Bopanna and his Czech partner, Adam Pavlasek.
The veteran Indian tennis star and Pavlasek initially demonstrated strong form in the tournament. On Monday, May 12, 2025, the duo advanced to the second round of the Rome Masters, raising hopes for a prolonged run. They achieved this by stunning the sixth-seeded pair of Michael Venus from New Zealand and Nikola Mektić from Croatia, with a score of 4-6, 7-6 (5), 10-4 in a super tie-breaker.
However, their journey was cut short in the subsequent round. Bopanna and Pavlasek faced the formidable British pair of Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski. The British duo proved too strong, defeating Bopanna and Pavlasek 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals.
In other matches at the Italian Open, top seeds Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski had a comfortable victory in their opening match, advancing to the second round after defeating Monica Niculescu and Katarzyna Piter 6-4, 6-1. Jack Draper from Britain also reached the quarter-finals after a challenging match against Corentin Moutet. Draper is set to face Carlos Alcaraz in the next round. Meanwhile, Yuki Bhambri and his American partner Robert Galloway faced an early exit in the opening round against Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.
