Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna slipped at the last hurdle and went down fighting 6-7 (4-7) 6-7 (5-7) to qualifier Zbynek Mylnarik of Austria in the men's singles final of the $15,000 prize money ITF Futures tennis tournament in Mumbai Saturday.
However, the unseeded Indian pair of Harsh Mankad and Vishal Uppal, who shocked top seeds Jonathan Marray and David Sherwood of England in the semi-finals, went on to win the doubles title beating another unseeded pair of Jasper Smit of Nedherlands and Daniel Lesske of Germany 6-2 7-5 in one hour ten minutes.
The men's singles final, which lasted one hour 35 minutes, had all the ingredients of a thriller. The Indian, who is known for his booming serves, was bang on target serving 15 aces in the match but his backhand let him down against the hard hitting baseliner.
The first set saw the games go with serves and the Indian had a semblance of a chance in the 10th game when he had a set point but the plucky Austrian saved the point to level the scores at 5-all.
Though Bopanna led 4-2 in the tie-break, the Austrian not only managed to level the scores at 4-all but also went on to win the tie-break at 7-4.
In the second set, Bopanna forced a break in the ninth game and was serving for the set at 5-4 before the Austrian managed to claw back into the set with a break back in the tenth game to level the scores at 5-all. He won the match by winning the tie-break.
