Australian Open 2025: Rohan Bopanna Prtner Nicolas Barrientos bows out in the first round of the men’s double competition

Rohan Bopanna of India lost in the very first round in the Australian Open which was held in 2025. (Source: X)

The retired world number one Rohan Bopanna and his new Colombian partner Nicolas Barrientos initiated their campaign in the Australian Open as participatnts of the men’s double competition where they faced Martinez Pedro and Jaume Munar of Spain but on a sad note for the Indo Colombian pair they lost their debut match of the tournament held in Melbourne on Tuesday. The drama spanned in the course of two hours with Bopanna and Barrientos eventually succumbing in a score of 5-7, 6-7 (5).

The Indo Columbian duo was seeded number fourteen. They could have perhaps gotten further in the competition had they not succumed to the nerves. A one all tie allowed the Spaniards to take the lead after. Bopanna and Barrientos started off strongly this time breaking the Spaniards from the onset .

Usually, the emotions that accompany tennis can be too much to handle.

Such an outing for Rohan Bopanna was mildly too much incase you had any ounce of pride within yourself.

As the current reigning champion of the tournament, it does come to a shock that Rohan lost in the first round itself. And to add insult to injury, he lost in straight sets too. It was heartbreaking to see him lose after making a come back while standing at 5-3 in the tiebreaker in the second round. Not going to lie though, the match was nearly won by Rohan having almost done a comeback again. Sad times pic.twitter.com/BP0mxaDAgE

— Jackson Dass Antony (@AJacksonDass) January 14, 2025

The Spanish pair put up a tough fight that showcased their astounding consistency, and managed to stay strong during the whole match, which is an astonishing feat on its own. A crucial point in the game was when Martinez and Munar broke the Tie and took the lead of the first set.

The performance by both the Martinez and her teammate Munar was exceptional as they always kept each other on their toes. At the start of the second round, the pair quickly offset the game to 5-3 and were positioned perfectly to serve the game and finish it in their favor.

Upon Bopanna and Barrientos serving, they were able to lock the scores at 5-5. They managed to break the serving strategy of the Spaniards and the final set was decided in the tie-breakers where the Spaniards managed to finish as winners by a small margin of 7-5.

The '44-year old Indian' partnered with 'Matthew Ebdeto' win the title in 2024. This made Bopanna the oldest male tennis player to ever have won a Grand Slam title as well, being 43 years old. However, things turned chaos for Bopanna once Williamson and Ebden ended their partnership, leaving him to pair with Barrientos. Samit Nagal lost to Tomas Machac in the first round which left him exiting the tournament.