Australian Open 2025: Defending Champion Rohan Bopanna Suffers Shock First-Round Exit

The Indo-Colombian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Nicolas Barrientos suffered a defeat in the opening round of the men’s doubles at the Australian Open.

Melbourne: India’s top-ranked player Rohan Bopanna was eliminated in the first round of the Australian Open 2025 on Tuesday. Bopanna won the Australian Open with Matthew Ebden last year but this time he paired with new partner Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia. The duo of Bopanna and Barrientos conceded a defeat against the Spanish pair of Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar in the first round of the men’s doubles competition.

The Indo-Colombian duo were struggling in the initial stages of the first set after having their service broken down. The pair then was unable to force a comeback and lost the first set by 5-7.

In the second set, it was a tight affair as the scores were 6-6 and so, the set entered into a tiebreaker. Bopanna and Barrientos took a 4-2 lead in the tie-breaker but failed to keep the lead intact. They were unable to hold their nerves which played in the favour of the opponents handing them the second set by 6-7.

Bopanna ended his association with Ebden at the end of the last season. The duo had successful runs in the Grand Slam events including a win in the Australian Open and entering the semi-final in the French Open. After pairing up with his new partner Barrientos, they were knocked out from the first round of the Adelaide Open, ATP 250 event.

Earlier, Sumit Nagal was knocked out of the tournament after facing a defeat in the first round. Now, Bopanna's exit is big blow for India as he was one of the title contenders in the doubles event.

India have a couple of more players in the Australian Open in the doubles competition. N Sriram Balaji and Miguel Reyes-Varela, Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti will be in action.