India’s Rohan Bopanna started his season with an ATP 250 title for the second straight year as he won the men’s doubles trophy at the Qatar Open on Friday with Wesley Koolhof of Netherlands.
The third-seeded pair fought back from a set down to clinch the title with a 3-6, 6-2, 10-6 win over Luke Bambridge and Santiago Gonzalez in Doha on Friday night.
Earlier in the day, the Indo-Dutch pair knocked out the second seeds Henri Kontinen and Franco Skugor 7-5, 6-2. Bambridge and Gonzalez got the better of Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen and Tim Puetz of Germany 2-6 6-2 10-4 in another semi-final contest.
They had earlier beaten the Swiss-American duo of Stan Wawrinka and Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4.
Bopanna had won the Maharashtra Open with compatriot Divij Sharan in January last year to begin his 2019 season. Sharan and his Kiwi partner Artem Sitak had lost the first round in Doha.
On the International Tennis Federation circuit, India’s WTA No 1 Ankita Raina went down in the semi-finals of the $25K event at Bendigo, Australia. The Indian lost 3-6, 4-6 to top seed Patricia Maria Tig of Romania.
Earlier, she had progressed into the semi-finals of the ITF event with a walkover from third seed Sachia Vickery of the US. She beat Irina Falconi in a tough three-setter before that.
In the UTF $15K in Monastir, Tunisia, India’s Zeel Desai reached the semi-finals with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Martyna Kubka of Poland.