Getting Closer to Some Rhythm—Nathan’s Notice

Written by: Staff on 25th February 2012

Getting Closer to Some Rhythm—Nathan’s Notice |

By: Nathan M. Cuny

Indian tennis super stars Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi have been out of the mix for a while but now they’re back in the game. On Thursday the 23^rd of March the teammates advanced to the semifinals of the Marseille Open 13. The New Indian Express defeated No.7 Lukas Dlouhy and No.55 Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

Bopanna and Bhupathi faced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Dustin Brown in the semifinals on Saturday. Tsonga and Brown crushed third seeds Igor Zelenay and Jean-Julien Roger in one hour and six minutes, defeating them 6-1, 7-6⁴. The two men knocked a total of eight aces past the third seeded team. It was quite an upset when Tsonga and Brown continued their winning streak, defeating No.1 seeds Bopanna and Bhupathi on Saturday’s semifinals matchup. The New Indian Express lost 6-7³, 7-5, 10-6 to Brown and Tsonga in one hour and thirty-five minutes.

It’s surprising when a top ranked doubles team like that of Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi are ousted by a singles/doubles combo team. As a team Bhupathi and Bopanna are ranked No.14 in doubles, while the men who nabbed the doubles finals slot have no doubles team ranking at all. The New Indian Express lost their Saturday match after Brown and Tsonga fired 19 aces past them, saving five out of the six break points.

Tsonga and Brown face Nicolas Mahut and Edourd Roger-Vasselin in Sunday’s title match. It seems like Roger Vasseiln gets a rematch against Tsonga a little sooner than expected, both with extra firepower by their sides. Tsonga defeated Vasselin on Friday 6-4, 7-5, making his 200^th career win. I’m sure Vasselin can’t wait for his chance to come face-to-face with Tsonga once more and defeat the man who took him down in the quarter finals.

Other news concerning the New Indian Express also ties in Bhupathi’s old teammate Leander Paes, and India’s top women’s player, Sania Mirza. The three men are in competition with each other to compete with Sania in the Olympics mixed doubles. They’re hoping to win an Olympic gold this year, regarding the matter Sania said, “I think I am in a great position to choose from three people who are so good. Mahesh and I made it to the semis in Melbourne and I’ve done well with Leander and Rohan too.” From the looks of the rankings right now, Sania might become teammates with Leander Paes, who is currently ranked No.7 in doubles, but in the doubles team race to London is ranked No.1 alongside Radek Stepanek. As a new team it will likely be at least one more month before Bopanna and Bhupathi find each other’s rhythm.

Topics: Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna