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Rohan Bopanna's fine run in the ATP doubles came to an end when he bowed out of the Stockholm Open in the semi-finals on Friday.
The Indian and his Belgian partner Olivier Rochus could not sustain the pressure against the experienced duo of Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Max Mirnyi of Belarus. Despite fighting back from a break down in the second set they lost 3-6, 5-7 to the second seeds.
Mirnyi and Bjorkman breezed through the first set in less than 30 minutes but found Bopanna-Rochus, teaming up for the first time, a tougher prospect in the second.
Bopanna served a double fault on deuce in his first service game of the second set, handing the second seeds a 2-0 lead. But the unseeded pair broke back immediately in the third to close the gap.
The teams went on serve from there, with the Indo-Belgian pair more anxious to hold and they served second in the set. At 5-6 down, Rochus, standing at 5'5", succumbed to the pressure, putting in a bad service game that Bjorkman-Mirnyi were quick to pounce on.
Former Grand Slam champions, Bjorkman and Mirnyi are searching for their first ATP title this season.
Earlier,
Bopanna and Rochus ousted fourth seeds Jeff Coetzee of South Africa and Rogier Wassen of the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, winning 6-2, 6-3.Bopanna, playing with Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi, had reached the final of the Mumbai Open in his last ATP doubles tourney.