Italian Open: Bopanna-Pavlasek exit ends India’s challenge in men’s doubles

Rome, May 13 India’s campaign at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2025 came to a disappointing end on Tuesday as veteran Rohan Bopanna and his Czech partner Adam Pavlasek bowed out in the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s doubles event, suffering a straight-set defeat to the British duo of Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski.

Bopanna and Pavlasek went down 3-6, 3-6 in a contest that lasted just over an hour — 1 hour and 8 minutes to be exact — as the experienced British pairing proved too clinical on the red clay courts of Rome.

The defeat not only ended Bopanna’s run at the prestigious ATP Masters 1000 tournament but also brought curtains down on India’s participation in the men’s doubles event, following an earlier exit by Yuki Bhambri and his partner Robert Galloway in the opening round.

Bopanna and Pavlasek had shown some spark earlier in the tournament with a commendable victory over sixth seeds Michael Venus (New Zealand) and Nikola Mektić (Croatia) in the first round. After losing the opening set 4-6, the Indo-Czech pair bounced back strongly to take the second set in a tie-breaker and then clinched the match 10-4 in a dominant super tie-break finish.

However, against the formidable Salisbury-Skupski duo, Bopanna and Pavlasek were unable to find rhythm. The Britons broke early in both sets and maintained steady pressure with powerful serving and deft net play, giving their opponents little room to counter. The straight-set defeat marked a swift end to the duo's Rome journey.

India’s other representative, Yuki Bhambri, who teamed up with American Robert Galloway, also failed to make an impact at the Foro Italico. The Indo-American pair suffered a heavy 1-6, 2-6 loss against the fourth-seeded team of Marcel Granollers (Spain) and Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) in the opening round on Sunday. The match lasted just 53 minutes, with Bhambri and Galloway struggling to hold serve and unable to match the consistency of their higher-ranked opponents.

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