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Bopanna ousted from China Open
Beijing: Top Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna, partnering American John Isner, lost his men’s doubles first round in straight sets at the $2.7 million China Open here on Wednesday.
The Uruguayan-Serbian pairing of Pablo Cuevas and Viktor Troicki took just 54 minutes to easily beat Bopanna and Isner 6-4, 6-3 on the hard courts of the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center which was built for the 2008 Olympic Games.
The Indo-American combine were broken thrice in the contest, twice in the second set, as they could not match the swift movement and charismatic net play of their opponents. Bopanna and Isner had three breakpoint opportunities in the match but all were wasted.
Also, three double faults by the losing pair did not help matters as Cuevas and Troicki sailed into the quarterfinals.
Leander Paes, with Australia’s John Peers, had too lost his opener on Tuesday when the pair went down to Canadian-French fourth seeds Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-7(1), 6-4, 9-11.
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.