Rajeev Ram, the American tennis player with Indian heritage, had an early exit at the Rolex Paris Masters, the world’s largest indoor tennis event. Ram and his partner, Austin Krajicek, lost in the opening round to Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Brazil’s Marcelo Melo with a scoreline of 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-10. The match was competitive, but Ram and Krajicek, who took silver together at the 2024 Paris Olympics, couldn’t hold on after a strong start.

The American duo won the first set comfortably, showing solid teamwork and earning a 6-3 lead. In the second set, they held two break points at 3-3, a key opportunity to seize control of the match. However, they couldn’t convert these chances, allowing Zverev and Melo to level the match through a tiebreak. From there, Zverev and Melo kept up the momentum, winning the super tiebreak 10-4 to close out the match.

Had they won, Ram and Krajicek would have faced Ram’s friend and fellow doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna in the second round. Instead, Bopanna and his Australian partner, Matt Ebden, are set to take on Zverev and Melo in a Tuesday night clash. This match will be a rematch of sorts, as Bopanna and Ebden faced Zverev last week in Vienna, though Zverev played with a different partner then.

Bopanna and Ebden, who have already secured a spot in the season-ending Tour Finals in Turin, will look to get some wins under their belt. The duo had reached the final in Paris last year, and will look to go one better this year.

Photo – Surya Nandhan Rajendhiran (https://www.instagram.com/sr28_sports/)