Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov had a good start to the ATP 500 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. Our pair defeated John Peers and Michael Venus with a scoreline of 76 67 10-8 to move into the quarters.
Rohan shared his thoughts on the match with Surya Raj.
Thoughts on the match
Matches like these go in one direction or the other just based on 1-2 points. It was literally the case today.
In the first set, Denis served at 4-5 0-40 down and saved 3 set points. We played a really good first set tie-breaker after that, to win it.
In the second set, we were the dominant team with a lot of deuce points. However credit to them – they came up with good first serves on those points. It wasn’t like we had any play on those points. The tie-breaker, we got off to a slow start and then got back and at 5-6, John played a good return to give them the set.
In the super tie-break, there were a lot of good points. Sometimes when you sit there and try to reflect on those points, it just happened so quick and fast that there isn’t much time to think and play.
That’s how doubles is, every week and every match – the majority of the matches are going to the super tie-breaks. I am really happy that we got through that today.
You had a match point in the second set.
Credit to Peers, he came up with a big first serve on that point. If someone can do that at such a crucial juncture, then you have to give credit to them.
However, we hung in there. We were ahead in the super tie-breaker, then we went down 7-8. At that stage, I played a good couple of points and then Denis hit a good serve to win us the match.
Photo: © ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
Your next opponents – the 4th seeds and the local favourites – Jean-Julien Rojer / Horia Tecău. Thoughts on this match?
I have played against them many times – not with Denis Shapovalov but with other partners. Every team is strong in these ATP 500 events. The opponents we played today, both are Grand Slam champions. They were not seeded but they are an extremely good pair.
Even Rojer and Tecau – they’ve been on the tour for a long time and have been a dominant pair for several years now. It will be a tough match and we have to play extremely well to get through that.
Photo Gallery from the match
