Indo-Hungarian tennis pair Rohan Bopanna and Timea Babos went down in a closely contested Australian Open mixed doubles final, losing 6-2, 4-6, 9-11 to eighth seeded Croatian-Canadian pairing of Mate Pavic and Gabriela Dabrowski at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne this morning.

This was Bopanna’s third Grand Slam final, only to lose it in one hour and eight minutes at the Melbourne Park.

After pushing the contest into the decider, Pavic and Dabrowski took an early lead in the super tie-break. However, the fifth seeds fought back well to not just level the contest but also take lead in the decider.

But the Croat-Canadian combine showed pure grit to clinch the contest at the end.

Bopanna had won the 2017 French Open mixed doubles title with Dabrowski, who was his opponent today. The Indian had also reached the men’s doubles final at the 2010 US Open with Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi. They eventually lost to the Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States.

Today at 2 pm (IST), Roger Federer targets 20th Grand Slam title against Marin Cilic in the Men’s Single.