Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden crashed out of the third round of the ongoing US Open in New York. With their defeat India’s participation in the men’s doubles events of the Grand Slam was over.

However, Bopanna’s challenge is now alive in the mixed doubles event with Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi and interestingly, he and Ebden will now be up against each other.

The second-seeded Bopanna-Ebden pair lost 1-6 5-7 to the 16th-seed Argentine combo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in 66 minutes on Sunday night. 

Bopanna and Ebden had won the Australian Open early this year. The 44-year-old Bopanna has already announced retirement from Davis Cup. It will be interesting to see whether he returns to defend his Australian Open crown in January next year.