Rohan Bopanna and Rajeev Ram’s campaign at the ATP Masters ended in the first round after a 4-6, 6-7(4) defeat against Lukas Kubot of Poland and Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia on Friday.
The Indo-American pair put up a spirited fight before losing in the opening round of the $5,030,408 hard court event.
India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and his Canadian partner Daniel Nestor, seeded third, have been pitted against Feliciano Lopez of Spain and Milos Raonic of Canada for their first round clash.
Leander Paes and his Austrian partner Jurgen Melzer, seeded seventh, face Benoit Paire of France and Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in their tournament opener.
Sharapova sizzles
Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova didn’t need too much time out in the chilly wind at the WTA BNP Paribas Open, sweeping into the third round with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Francesca Schiavone.
The second-seeded Russian dropped her first service game as they traded breaks in the first three games, then sealed the victory in just 61 minutes.
She was glad to get through her tournament opener against the 2010 French Open champion, even if the Italian’s drop in form has seen her slip to 47th in the world.
Like all seeded players in the combined ATP Masters and WTA tournament, she received a first-round bye.
Sharapova, the 2006 champion in the California desert and runner-up last year to Victoria Azarenka, advanced to a third-round match against Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Silvia Soler-Espinosa.
Third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska also booked her third-round berth, rolling past US wild card Maria Sanchez 6-2, 6-1.
Fognini advances
In men’s first-round action, Italy’s Fabio Fognini advanced to a second-round clash with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene.
Fognini, ranked 36th in the world, will face a daunting task against the Serb, who is 13-0 in 2013.
Russian Evgeny Donskoy defeated Japan's Tatsuma Ito 6-2, 6-1 to line up a meeting with third-seeded US Open and Olympic champion Andy Murray.
Other women’s seeds advancing included fifth-seeded former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who survived 10 double faults to beat Olga Govortsova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
The hard-hitting Czech, winner at Dubai in February, next faces Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko, who downed Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
Sixth-seeded Sara Errani advanced with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Easing through
French ninth seed Marion Bartoli eased into the third round with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over South African Chanelle Scheepers.
She’ll face two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who bounced back after being blanked in the first set to beat former World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic 0-6, 6-2, 7-5.
The results:
Men : First round: Marinko Matosevic bt Tommy Robredo 7-5, 6-2; Philipp Petzschner bt Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-4; Ivo Karlovic bt Jack Sock 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-2; James Blake bt Robin Haase 6-3, 6-4; Nikolay Davydenko bt Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6(1), 6-2.
Women : Second round: Johanna Larsson bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-1; Petra Kvitova bt Olga Govortsova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Maria Kirilenko bt Christina McHale 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; Maria Sharapova bt Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-1; Marion Bartoli bt Chanelle Scheepers 6-3, 6-3; Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Jelena Jankovic 0-6, 6-2, 7-5; Agnieszka Radwanska bt Maria Sanchez 6-2, 6-1; Klara Zakopalova bt Shahar Peer 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-3
