London: It was a disappointing evening for India’s tennis faithful as veteran Rohan Bopanna and his partner Sander Gille were eliminated from men’s doubles competition in the opening round of Wimbledon 2025 here on Wednesday.
They lost to the third-seeded German pair Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 3-6, 4-6 in an hour and four minutes, marking a brief outing in the competition.
Bopanna’s exit follows after a mixed 2025 so far. He and his partner, Adam Pavlasek, reached the third round of the French Open before being eliminated. He also partnered with Zhang Shuai in the Australian Open mixed doubles, reaching the quarterfinals.
India’s other doubles star, Yuki Bhambri, and his American partner Robert Galloway defeated Manuel Guinard of France and Romain Arneodo of Monaco in straight sets to advance to the second round of the Wimbledon men’s doubles competition.
In an hour-and-49-minute first-round encounter, the 16th-seeded Indo-American duo upset Arneodo and Guinard 7-6(8), 6-4. They further built on their performance after finishing as runner-up at the Mallorca Open, in the build-up to the Grand Slam.
Bhambri looked sharp throughout the game and perfectly complemented Galloway as the two rushed out of the gates from the beginning. Bhambri and his teammate had the opportunity to break their opponent’s serve and take the first set 7-5, but were not able to do so despite having two set points at one point. However, they did not make any mistakes and went on to seal the first set.
Guinard had an injury scare in the second set, as he fell to the ground clutching his back and neck, but continued to fight on. However, Bhambri-Galloway looked set in their plans and ended with the win.
Rithwik Bollipalli and N Sriram Balaji are the other two Indian players who will feature at Wimbledon alongside their respective partners — Romania’s Nicolás Barrientos and Mexico’s Miguel Reyes-Varela, respectively.
(IANS)
