The Indo-Dutch pair of Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop suffered a major heartbreak in French Open as they failed to make it to the men's doubles final on Thursday. They lost the semifinal against the duo of Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 in the tie-breaker. This was Rohan Bopanna's best-ever outing in men's doubles at French Open.
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The Indo-Dutch pair made an excellent start in the first semifinal of the men's doubles as they broke the serve of their opponents early and finally won the first set 6-4.
The pair of Arevalo-Rojer made a stupendous come back in the second set and broke the serve of Bopanna's partner Middelkoop in the 9th game and won the set 6-3.
The final set went down the wire and finally, the pair of Arevalo-Rojer held the nerve and clinched the tie-breaker 10-8.
It was a major heartbreak for Indian fans, who were hoping to see an Indian champion after 9 years at the Grand Slam in the men's doubles event. The last Indian to win a men's doubles title at a Grand Slam is Leander Paes who lifted the trophy along with Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek at the 2013 US Open.
While the last Indian to win a Grand Slam title is Bopanna himself who, along with Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, clinched the mixed doubles title at the 2017 French Open.