By IANS
San Jose (US) : India’s Rohan Bopanna Sunday failed to book his place in the singles main draw of the $436,000 Association of Tennis Professional (ATP) SAP Open as he lost in the first round of the qualifiers to K.J. Hippensteel of the US.
Hippensteel outplayed Bopanna, who spearheaded India’s Davis Cup 3-2 victory against Uzbekistan just a week back, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
However, the 27-year-old Indian has re-united with his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and will feature in the doubles main draw. The Indo-Pak pair will play third seed Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Jamie Murray of Great Britain in the opening round of the hard court event starting Monday.
Ten-time Grand Slam winner Mahesh Bhupathi will partner Mark Knowles of Bahamas and has been seeded second here. The duo will face unseeded Czech pair of Radek Stepanek and Jaroslav Levinsky in the first round.