India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Australian men’s doubles pa1rtner Matthew Ebden began their ATP Finals campaign with a straight-set defeat in a group stage match on Monday night.

Bopanna and Ebden went down 2-6, 3-6 in just 56 minutes to the Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori. The Indo-Australian pair had defeated the same opposition in the final of the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open.