'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea prevailed 6-2, 6-7 (5), 11-9 in a tense final against Nenad Zimonjic and Marcin Matkowski at the Madrid Open on Sunday.
The Indo-Romanian pair took an early break in the opening set to go 4-1 up. They won the set on their third set point in the eighth game. Zimonjic and Matkowski broke Mergea’s serve in the third game of the second set. However, they couldn’t build on it as they were broken right back in the fourth game. There were no more breaks of serve and the set went to a tie-break.
Bopanna and Mergea led 4-1 in the breaker before losing four points on the trot. Zimonjic and Matkowski handled pressure much better than their opponents to win the second set and force a super tie breaker. The Indo – Romanian pair raced to a 6-1 lead, but things spiralled out of control for Bopanna and Mergea as Zimonjic and Matkowski made it 8-8 with some aggressive volleying and winners down the line.
Bopanna and Mergea saved a match point at 8-9 and there were no hiccups later as they wrapped up the match with three straight points.
