India's top ranked players and number eight seed Rohan Bopanna was ousted in the second round of the men's singles tennis at the 15th Asian Games in Doha on Saturday.
In a listless display, Bopanna, who had received a bye in the first round, went down 3-6, 3-6 to China's Peng Sun in an hour and 25 minutes.
But Bopanna made up somewhat for his singles loss, cruising to the second round in men's doubles with partner Mustafa Ghouse. The Indian duo crushed Abdul Mohammed and Abdul Shehab of Bahrain 6-2, 6-1 in well under an hour.
Bopanna couldn't settle into a rhythm on the high-bounce hard courts during his singles encounter at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash complex and struggled for that elusive break in the first set. Sun, who also struggled with his serve, won three games in a row after 3-3, breaking Bopanna in the seventh and the ninth game to clinch the first set in 38 minutes.
Bopanna was sluggish on the baseline and made twice the number of unforced errors (32) than his opponent in the match.
The second set was a see-saw battle with five breaks of serve.
In the fourth game of the second set, Bopanna was offered a second chance to save his service game. He was a break point down, when during play the ball kid at the net moved slightly disturbing Bopanna's concentration. He lost the point and the game; the scoreboard showed him 1-3 down but Bopanna contested it with the chair umpire.
After almost five minutes of discussion the umpire ruled that the point be replayed. Bopanna pulled it back to deuce with a service winner but eventually lost the game.
He fought back from a break down twice in the second set but did not have enough on his own serve to take the match into the deciding set.
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