Indian Wells Masters: Bopanna-cuevas knocked out by Djokovic-troicki

INDIAN WELLS (USA): Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas yet again failed to click as a team, losing the closelyfought opening round of the ATP Indian Wells Masters to Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki, here on Saturday.

Bopanna and Cuevas lost 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 to the Serbian combination in one hour and six minutes. The winners logged 55 points, just two more than Bopanna and Cuevas.

Bopanna and his partner from Uruguay were playing their third tournament together this season and have managed to win just one match at the Australian Open.

Bopanna was hoping for better results, specifically at the Grand Slams, after teaming up with singles world number 30 for the 2017 season. They had lost first round at Apia International in Sydney and now here.

Bopanna though has enjoyed good results with other partners. He won title at the season-opening Chennai Open with compatriot Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and ended runners-up with Poland’s Marcin Matkowski in Dubai last week.

Indian challenge is still alive in the ATP Masters event with Leander Paes and Juan Martin Del Potro set to challenge Sam Querry and Gilles Muller in their opening round.

In the women’s singles, US teenager Kayla Day shocked Australian Open semi-finalist Mirjana Lucic-baroni to earn a clash with French Open champion Garbine Muguruza.

Day, 17, out-lasted the 35-year-old Lucic-baroni 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, rallying from a break down in the third to reach the third round.

Lucic-baroni served for the match in the final set, but the young American, who won the US Open junior title last year, kept her nerve.

Muguruza was firmly in control having raced to a 5-0 lead in the second set before Flipkens began to make inroads on the Spaniard.

In other action, Australian Open quarter-finalist Johanna Konta held off Heather Watson 6-4, 6-4 in an all-british battle to reach the third round.

Third seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova faced a potentially tricky tournament opener against Puerto Rico’s Olympic gold medallist Monica Puig.