Calcutta: Rohan Bopanna dislocated a rib during his China Open first-round singles match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Beijing on Tuesday. The Indian No. 1, ranked 252 in the world, conceded the match when he was trailing 3-6, 0-1.

Bopanna hasn’t yet pulled out of the doubles event, though. He and Mahesh Bhupathi, the top seeds in the $500,000 meet, have requested for a Thursday start to give the 26-year-old Indian time to recover.

“He is better and wants to play… If he feels good tomorrow (Thursday), we’ll give it a shot,” Bhupathi said.

Bhupathi and Bopanna, ranked 20 and 86, respectively, in the ATP doubles list, are playing together in a Tour event for the first time. They have been drawn to meet Chris Haggard (South Africa) and Yen-Hsun Lu (Taipei) in the first round.