Bopanna-Mergea lose in Halle Open final

Halle (Germany), June 21: The Indo-Romanian tennis pair of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea was defeated in straight sets in the men's doubles final of the Halle Open on the grass courts of the Gerry Weber Stadion here on Sunday.

The second seeds went down to South African-American combination of Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 6-7 (5), 2-6 in an hour and 12 minutes.

Bopanna and Mergea were totally out of touch in the first set as they served three double faults which threw away several chances of earning breakpoint opportunities.

On the contrary, Klaasen and Ram came up with three aces but the second seeds managed to save four out of five break points, pushing the set into the tie-breaker.

Klaasen and Ram, however, prevailed 7-5 in the crucial tie-breaker to go one-set up in the match.

The South African-US pair came back more strongly playing some aggressive tennis in the second set. Serving three aces and winning all 12 first serve points, Klaasen and Ram came closer to clinch the title, while Bopanna and Mergea made massive error in serving two double faults to hand over victory to their opponents.