Bopanna knocked out of ATP Challenger Series

NEW DELHI: Rohan Bopanna suffered a shocking first-round defeat against Swiss qualifier Michel Kratochvil in the singles event of the USD 125,000 ATP Challenger Series in Segovia, Spain.

Bopanna lost 3-6 3-6 in the hard court event on Tuesday.

The Indian would now look forward to repeat his last two week's successes in the doubles event, playing alongside Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

The duo went on to win doubles titles at Manchester and Nottingham in the last two weeks.

The third seed Indo-Pak pair have advanced to the quarterfinals here.

Among the other Indians in the fray, Mustafa Ghouse and his German partner, Frank Moser, survived a scare from wildcards Guillermo Alcaide and Oscar Burrieza to enter the quarterfinals.

Ghouse and Moser beat the Spaniards 2-6 7-5 10-6.

They will now be up against Kratochvil and Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.