Bopanna-Mergea stumble on final hurdle in Halle

Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea ended runners-up at the ATP Gerry Weber Open following a surprise straight set defeat at the hands of Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, in Halle, Germany on Sunday.

The second-seeded Indo-Romanian pair lost the summit clash 6-7(5), 2-6 against the unseeded American-South African team in a match that last an hour and 12 minutes.

Bopanna and Mergea had come into the event after wining the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, last week.

They had the advantage, following an early break, but lost the momentum as well as their grip over the contest as the match progressed. They failed to force a match tie-breaker and were outplayed in the second set.

With this result, the Bopanna-Mergea pair won 300 ranking points each and shared 50,880 as prize money for their effort.

Photograph: Twitter