Rohan Bopanna in action at the ATP World Tour Finals.
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It was a much-awaited men’s doubles semi-final at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, Morocco on Thursday as Indian Rohan Bopanna was facing his friend and former long-time Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. The Indian World No. 11 had great memories from last year when this ATP 250 clay event was staged in Casablanca where he and his usual partner, Florin Mergea reached the final.
But this time, his run ended in the semi-finals as he and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan went down to Qureshi and Marin Draganja, 6(5)-7, 6(5)-7 despite having a handful of break-point opportunities.
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Bopanna and Mergea had been struggling this season since reaching the Sydney final at the beginning of the year and the Indian had been on a four-match losing streak coming into this tournament. With Istomin by his side, Bopanna seemed to be getting back some of his lost touch as the two had a couple of victories in Marrakech that included an upset win over the fourth-seeded Delray Beach champions Oliver Marach/Fabrice Martin.
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The Indo-Uzbek duo’s confidence was thus surely high and they created as many as 11 break point chances in this hard-fought semi-final contest. Bopanna and Istomin even saved all the four break points they were facing. But it was their inability to capitalize on their chances that brought about their downfall.
Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.
Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.
Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.
Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.
When not using her skills and years of experience in crafting compelling content, Sudeshna likes to read, watch movies and travel.
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