Bopanna-Vasselin pair go down fighting to World No.1 doubles team in Sydney International semis

India's Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin fought their hearts out before losing the semifinal of the ATP Sydney International to world number one team of Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.

The fourth seeded Indo-French pair gave a scare to the top-seeded Polish-Brazilian pair before losing the closely- fought semifinal 4-6 7-5 8-10 in one hour and 29 minutes.

There was not much of a difference in the two teams as the winners won 70 points to the 64 of Bopanna and Roger- Vasselin. They broke each other twice in the contest.

The victors will now fight it out with Germany's Jan- Lennard Struff and Romanian Viktor Troicki, who toppled second seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 7-6(5) 6-1.

It was the last tournament in build up to the first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open. Bopanna had played the season-opening Tata Open Maharashtra with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan in Pune, losing in the quarterfinals.