Chennai: The top-seeded Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna said they were not rattled by their shock defeat at the hands of Israeli pair Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich in the Chennai Open semi-final and had several positives to take home from their performance.
The fourth-seeded pair of Ram and Erlich sent the Indian duo crashing out of the tournament with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 win on Saturday.
"For a good 40 minutes we dominated every aspect of the game. I think due to a few strategic errors, we let them back in. But again that boils down to a brand new partnership," Bhupathi said at the post-match press conference.
Bhupathi also said wasting an opportunity to go 4-3 up in the second set did not affect the outcome of the match to any great extent.
After being level at 3-3, Ram and Erlich won three succesive games, including the seventh, to wrap up the set and take the tie into a match tie-breaker.
"We broke them enough times to win the game," Bhupathi said.
"We were already up a set and a break (after winning the first set and breaking the Israeli duo in game one of the second set) and I could have served at a different point at deuce, but we live and learn."
Bopanna also said the loss had not dented the confidence of the Indian pair.
"No, not at all, it gives us confidence. We've played three matches here and we were playing a team that has won a Grand Slam (the 2008 Australian Open doubles) and we have a lot of positives to take from the match. Now we have a whole week to get ready for the Australian Open."
"They really raised their level of play towards the end, they came up with some great volleys and a couple of fantastic shots. It is a lottery, sometimes you win, some times you lose," Bopanna said.
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