In a nail-biting opening round at the BNP Paribas Open, defending champions Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden succumbed to the Belgian duo of Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in a closely contested match. It was an incredibly tight encounter with a scoreline of 6-7(1) 6-4 8-10.
The Belgian pair served incredibly well in the first and second sets, giving Bopanna and Ebden few opportunities to break. Bopanna and Ebden began to shift the momentum at 3-3, 40-40 in the second set when the Indian-Australian pair laid down some masterful volleys to hold serve. This, in turn, put pressure on Gille and Viliegen, who were broken at 5-4. Bopanna roared to the crowd after this set point, and he and Ebden appeared on their way to securing victory.
Huge Crowd Support for Bopanna
Following the second set, the crowd energy was palpable. Chants of “Jeetega bhai jeetega, Bopanna jeetega,” “Bopanna Bopanna,” and “Rohan Rohan” rained down, giving the match a Davis Cup atmosphere. The stadium was jam packed with Indian and Indian-origin fans supporting Bopanna, the world number one.
Gille and Vliegen, however, proved to be formidable opponents, and they ultimately prevailed on their first match point in the super tiebreak. Bopanna and Ebden, the reigning BNP Paribas Open champions, displayed their resilience throughout the match, fighting back in the second set and then in the super tiebreak when they were down a minibreak two different times.
Unfortunately, they always found themselves battling from behind and were never able to seize control of the match. Bopanna and Ebden both appeared to struggle on serve at different moments, which contributed to the Belgian duo’s opportunities to break in the first set and then secure the minibreaks in the super tiebreak.
Bopanna At Big Risk Of Losing No.1 Ranking
With this early exit, Rohan Bopanna faces a big risk of losing his No.1 ranking. He will surrender his position in two scenarios:
1) Austin Krajicek wins his 2nd round match (high probability)
2) The pair of Ram/Salisbury wins the Indian Wells title (low probability)