Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea did not start the season as doubles partners, but by the end of 2015, they were among the Top 10 teams on the ATP World Tour. Bopanna-Mergea would qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals and make the championship match.
Win-Loss Record
Bopanna and Mergea would tally up a 33-16 record in 17 events played together in 2015. The duo did not take part in their first event together until April's Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, Morocco. Bopanna started the season paired up with Daniel Nestor, with whom he would win two titles in 2015. The pair ended their relationship in March after less than a year together. Their two 2015 titles were their only ones together in that span. Mergea had partnered with Dominic Inglot to start the season. The Romanian and Brit would make the Australian Open quarterfinals and two tournament finals before parting ways after the Miami Open.
High Points
The Mutua Madrid Open in May was one of the highlight moments for this new pair, as they won their first title together. After making a final in their first tournament together in Casablanca, the duo had slumped before Madrid. In the clay Masters 1000 event, everything came together for the Indian-Romanian pair as they won four of their five matches in super tiebreaks. That included the title match where they beat Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic 6-2, 6-7 (5), 11-9. The year-end Tour Finals was also a high point and a signal that Bopanna-Mergea could be a pair to contend with again in 2016. They would make it out of the round robin stage and lose to newly-crowned number ones Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the title match in London, ending a very productive season together..
Mergea and Bopanna celebrate their first title in Madrid/Photo: Getty Images
Low Points
One of the low moments for Bopanna-Mergea would come after their initial success to begin their partnership. After making the Casablanca final, the duo would struggle in their next two tournaments. In Monte Carlo, they lost a tough match to Benoit Paire and Stan Wawrinka in the opening round. The French-Swiss pairing would outlast them in the super tiebreak 10-7. Bopanna-Mergea would suffer a big shock the following week in a home tournament for Romanian Florin Mergea. In Bucharest, Bopanna-Mergea were stunned in the quarterfinals by the unheralded pairing of Romanians Adrian Ungur and Marius Copil 6-4, 7-6 (6).
Best Results
Bopanna-Mergea would see their best results of the season as the grass court swing began in June. They would play both German events in Stuttgart and Halle, making the finals in both tournaments. They would take home the Mercedes Cup title in Stuttgart with a thrilling 5-7, 6-2, 10-7 win over Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares. In Halle, they fell in the title match to Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 7-6 (5), 6-2. Their solid form on grass would carry over to Wimbledon where they would make their deepest Grand Slam run together. After scoring a brilliant upset of the top seed Bryans in the quarterfinals 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (9), 7-5 (5); they would battle Rojer-Tecau in one of the best doubles matches of the season in the semifinals. The two teams would battle even through four sets with Rojer-Tecau ultimately coming out on top in a scintillating 13-11 fifth set.
Bopanna and Mergea pose with the trophies in Stuttgart/Photo: ATP World Tour
Worst Results
After a solid quarterfinal run at the U.S. Open, Bopanna-Mergea would stumble towards the finish line. They would lose their first match in consecutive weeks at both the Erste Bank Open in Vienna and the Swiss Indoors Basel. That left them needing some help to wrap up a Tour Finals spot heading into the final tournament, the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. Things would be compounded as Bopanna-Mergea fell to Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in the quarterfinals. Dodig-Melo would help seal a spot for Bopanna-Mergea in the year-end Tour Finals though as they knocked out Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in the final. That knocked PopSock out of contention for London.
Grade: B-
With both players starting 2015 with different partners, the body of work is less than some of the other top doubles teams. Still, this team made a statement to start and finish the season. They made a final in Casablanca to open their pairing together and ended the season with a solid showing at the ATP World Tour Finals by making the championship match. Winning two titles and making four finals overall in 2015 was a solid accomplishment in their short six month stint together. Bopanna and Mergea have already announced plans to reprise their partnership in 2016. This could be an even more formidable team next season as they align together from the beginning of the season. Don't be surprised if this team pushes their way into the top four or five teams by the end of 2016.