Bopanna wins Monte Carlo title
DOUBLE DELIGHT India star teams up with Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas to beat Lopez duo
Indian star Rohan Bopanna and his Uruguayan partner Pablo Cuevas defeated the Spanish team of Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez in a tough three-set battle to win the men’s doubles title at the Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament here on Sunday.
Bopanna and Cuevas won 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 in one hour and 14 minutes at the at the Monte Carlo Country Club.
This is the first title that the Indo-Uruguayan combination have won since they teamed up earlier this year.
Bopanna and Cuevas were off to a strong start, breaking their opponents’ serve in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead in the opening set.
They almost got another break in the eighth game when they stretched their opponents’ serve to 30/40 before the Spaniards rallied to take the game.
Bopanna and Cuevas then held serve in the next game to take the first set.
Feliciano and Marc were much better in the second set, forcing a service break in the fourth game to open up a 3-1 lead.
Bopanna and Cuevas tried hard to make a comeback and put pressure on their opponents’ serve on several occasions. But the Spanish duo bounced back to hold serve each time.
The Indo-Uruguyan duo dominated the tie-breaker right from the start, opening up a comfortable 6-0 lead before Feliciano and Marc reduced the gap to 8-4.
But Bopanna and Cuevas took the next two points to clinch the issue. Rafael Nadal claimed a record-extending 10th Monte Carlo Masters title as he geared up for his beloved French Open with a
6-1 6-3 victory against fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos on Sunday.
The fourth seed, who is also targeting a 10th Roland Garros trophy this year, was always in command as he claimed his first ATP title since triumphing in Barcelona a year ago. The 14-times grand slam champion had won his two previous encounters against Ramos and the 15th seed failed to snap that run on Sunday.
“It has been an amazing week on one of the most important events on the tour. I played well here, which helps me a lot to start the claycourt season with confidence,” said Nadal. Nadal wasted three break points in the second game as Ramos levelled for 1-1, only for the claycourt king to win the next five games to bag the opening set. What does an animator, a charted accountant, a central government employee, an Oxford graduate and a research fellow at PGI, Chandigarh have in common? A passion for running. Coming from varied background, they --four men (Amit Kumar, Kieren D’Souza, Arun Bharadwaj, Ullas Narayana) and two women (Aparna Choudhary and Meenal Sukhija) --are in the Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) six-member