Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, grit not enough: tricolor doubles out in Doha

Bolelli/Vavassori doubles eliminated in Doha

The men’s doubles draw at the Doha tournament lost already in the first round the only Italian pair in the game: in fact, Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori failed to overcome the duo composed of India’s Rohan Bopanna and Portugal’s Nuno Borges, with the match ending in favor of the latter with the score of 7-6(2), 7-6(4).

In the hour and a half of play played Tuesday, Bolelli and Vavassori answered blow after blow to their opponents, in a match that, excluding the two tie-breaks, never saw a game won on their opponents’ serves, neither on one side nor on the other. What made the difference were the two mini-games, both won convincingly by Bopanna and Borges.

Thus, the run toward a third title in 2025 for Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, who won the Adelaide International in early January, beating the Germans Tim Pütz and Kevin Krawietz in the final, and won the final of the Rotterdam Open last Feb. 9, defeating Sander Gillé of Belgium and Jann Zielinski of Poland.

The Bolelli/Vavassori pair has been competing stably in doubles for almost two years now: five tournaments won (Buenos Aires, Beijing and Halle 2024, Adelaide and Rotterdam 2025), as many lost in the finals (Halle and Umag 2023, Australian Open 2024 and 2025, Roland Garros 2024). Rohan Bopanna, today’s opponent, snatched the 2024 Melbourne Slam title from them, paired with Matthew Ebden.