India's Rohan Bopanna and his Dutch partner Matwe Middelkoop saved two match points but their dream run at the French Open ended with a semifinal defeat at the hands of Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, here on Thursday.
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The 16th seeds, Bopanna and Middelkoop, who have played some exhilarating tennis throughout, lost 6-4 3-6 6-7 (8-10) to the 12th seeded pair from El Salvador and the Netherlands in the men's doubles match that lasted two hours and seven minutes.
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No Indian has played in a Grand Slam men's doubles final since Leander Paes' 2013 US Open triumph and Bopanna was bidding to become the first Indian in nine years to achieve the feat.
The first and last time Bopanna featured in a Grand Slam final was in 2010 with Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Quereshi, losing the title clash to the legendary Bryan brothers
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Rojer's first serve accuracy was a huge factor in the outcome of the match. While serving for the opening set, Middelkoop was down by two break chances but saved both to make it deuce. The Dutch player then fired an ace to get to advantage point and Bopanna sealed the set with a backhand volley winner.
Bopanna sent forehand on the net at 30-all to face a break point but served big to save that. The Indian's second serve was attacked again in the sixth game resulting in him facing another break chance but saving that too. With this defeat, India's challenge ended at the clay-court major.
