Melbourne, Jan 30 (PTI) Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna's search to look for a partner for the men's doubles competition at the Australian Open ended on Saturday as he tied up with Japan's Ben McLachlan for the season's first Grand Slam.

Bopanna had originally paired with Joao Sousa but the Portuguese contracted coronavirus virus, forcing them to pull out.

Bopanna, who served a 14-day hard quarantine after arriving in Melbourne on January 16, informed that Ben and he were in the same boat.

"I got lucky there. Unfortunately Ben's partner Raven Klassen had to pull out and Ben was looking for a partner, so we finally decided to commit and sign up together. I am looking forward to see how it goes. Definitely was not easy to find partners, happy to have found one," Bopanna told PTI.

Australian Open will begin on February 8 under strict COVID-19 protocols.

Apart from Bopanna, India will have Divij Sharan in the men's doubles event while Sumit Nagal will compete in the men's singles on a wild card.

Ankita Raina is waiting to find out if she gets 'lucky loser' spot in the women's singles.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)