Melbourne: Rohan Bopanna and his Hungarian partner Timea Babos frittered away one set advantage, going down to Mate Pavic and Gabriela Dabrowski in the Australian Open mixed doubles final here Sunday.
The fifth-seeded Bopanna and Babos lost 6-2, 4-6, 9-11 to the Croat-Canadian pair of Pavic and Dabrowski, seeded eighth, in a match, which lasted one hour and eight minutes.
Bopanna and Babos dominated the opening set, helped to a great extent, by their erratic opponents, who conceded seven break points. The Indo-Hungarian combine converted two of those chances to claim the early advantage.
However, Pavic and Dabrowski roared back into the match in the second set. Their serve was flawless and the pair did not concede a single break point.
It was Bopanna and Babos’ turn to become erratic now and they were broken once by Pavic and Dabrowski before drawing level.
The two teams headed to a tie-breaker from here and after a gruelling contest, Pavic and Dabrowski emerged triumphant. Interestingly, Bopanna had won his maiden Grand Slam crown at the 2017 French Open with Dabrowski.
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