Amritraj-Bopanna lose in doubles final

The Indian pair lost 2-6, 5-7 to Czech Michal Mertinak and Slovakian Petr Pala on Sunday.

Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna squandered a 5-0 lead in the second set, to go down 6-2 7-5 to Peter Pala of the Czech Republic and Slovakian Michal Mertinak in the ATP Tour's Chennai Open.

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The Indian pair, who scored an upset over second seeded German pair of Rainer Schuettler and Alexander Waske in the quarterfinals before getting a walkover from Paradorn Srichphan and Radek Stepanek, fought back after losing the first set but committed several errors under pressure to allow their higher ranked rivals walk away with the match in 70 minutes.

This was Peter Pala's fifth career title. He brought his experience into play in the second set to dash the hopes of a maiden ATP title for Prakash and Bopanna.
Bopanna's double fault in the 11th game of the second set proved costly.

In fact, Pala told a post-match press conference that at 0-5 in the second, they were planning their strategy for the decider (super tie-break).