The Indo-Romanian pair defeated the Croat-Finnish combination 5-7 7-6(5) 10-6 to enter the Round of 32 at the USD 4,660,678 event.
Involved in a neck-and-neck battle with the match swinging from one end to another, Bopanna and Mergea managed to maintain their composure to pull off a hard-fought victory.
Bopanna and Mergea kept their nerves to outplay their opponents in the third set tie-breaker at the clay court event.