Indian tennis star Yuki Bhambri, in partnership with America’s Robert Galloway, lost the men’s doubles final at the Bordeaux ATP 175 Challenger tournament in Bordeaux, France, on Sunday.
Playing on clay, Bhambri and Galloway lost a hard-fought final to fourth-seeded Francisco Cabral of Portugal and Lucas Miedler of Austria in straight sets, 6-7(1), 6-7(2).
Earlier, second-seed Bhambri-Galloway got the better of third-seed Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-3, 7-6(3) in the semifinals.
On Sunday, the Indo-American pair had a poor opening of the first set, losing serve in the first game. They recovered briefly in the sixth game to equalise at 3-3.
In the next two games, both pairs failed to hold serve. It was in the tenth game, Bhambri-Galloway had an opportunity to win the set but failed to capitalise. They stretched the match to a tie-breaker, but the result favoured their opponents.
One expected the Indo-American pair to bounce back in the second set and they did by holding serve on all occasions. They faced another tie-break and lost serve thrice to concede the set and match 6(2)-7.
Yuki might have missed out on the title in Bordeaux, but his good run at the tournament here will boost his confidence before heading for the second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open, next week.