2012 Olympics Tennis: Bhupathi-Bopanna win tense match

London: India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna started their Olympics campaign with a hard fought win against Max Mirnyi and Alexander Bury in the first round of men's doubles at the Wimbledon here Monday.

The seventh seed pair of Bhupathi and Bopanna, who had revolted against the All India Tennis Association (AITA) decision of pairing them with Leander Paes, won 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7) and 8-6 in a match that lasted two hours and 26 minutes. Bhupathi and Bopanna next face French duo Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet. Meanwhile, Indian Davis Cupper Vishnu Vardhan's dream outing in the Olympics men's singles was short-lived as he went down in straight sets to Slovenia's Blaz Kavcic in the first round. Vardhan, who was lucky to get a slot in the men's singles event at the eleventh hour as German Phillip Kohlschreiber pulled out due to a hamstring injury, lost 3-6, 2-6 in 72 minutes. The 304th-ranked Indian, whose strong point is his serve, was broken thrice in the first set and it was no different in the second. Before Vardhan could get the hang of it, he was down 1-4 and the World No.76 Slovenian walked through to the second round. Vardhan was hardly in the match and he committed far too many unforced errors. The 25-year-old will now partner Leander Paes in the men's doubles and the Indian pair takes on the Dutch duo of Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer later in the day. (IANS)