in the Quarter-finals of the latter one in straight sets. He ended the year at India F7 Futures losing to his occasional partner and eventual winner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. 2006: Grand Slam Debut, First ATP Final and Asian Hopman Cup Title The 2006 season was statistically a rising season of Bopanna's career. He started the season by qualifying for main draw of Chennai Open by defeating Marcin Matkowski, Danai Udomchoke and Rajeev Ram in straight sets respectively. He then defeated Cyril Saulnier in first round of main draw in straight sets. But lost to fifth seeded Gilles Müller in straight sets. He entered doubles as a wildcard with Prakash Amritraj where they upset 3rd seeds Yves Allegro and Michael Kohlmann in straight sets in first round, received bye in second round and then upset 2nd seeds Rainer Schüttler and Alexander Waske in semi-finals. But lost to Michal Mertiňák and Petr Pála in straight sets. This was his first ever ATP Tour final. He then made his Grand Slam at 2006 Australian Open where he participated in only men's singles event that too in qualifying round. He defeated Yohny Romero in straight sets in the first round. This was his first ever Grand slam match and first ever win at any grand slam. But his run ended in the second round where he lost to Jean-Christophe Faurel 4-6,6-1,3-6. In the Davis cup tie against South Korea, he lost his first singles match to Chung Hee-seok after a valiant fight. But he also lost his reverse singles match in straight sets to Lee Hyung-taik. India lost to South Korea 4-1. He then had first round exit at Australian F1 Futures losing to Andrew Coelho and reached Quarter-finals with Luke Bourgeois where they lost in a close match. At the Kyoto Challenger, he defeated Phillip King in straight sets but lost to Prakash Amritraj in straight sets in second round. In doubles, he lost in the finals with Prakash to Jonathan Murray and Alun Jones in a high thrilling match. He and Prakash then were 2nd seeds at Ho Chi Minh City Challenger where they lost in the semi-finals to Dudi Sela and Jacob Adaktusson in straight sets and in the singles he lost in first round to Nicolas Devilder in straight sets. He again had a first round exit at UAE F1 Futures and in doubles he had to give walkover in first