The top-seeded pair of Matthew Ebden and Rohan Bopanna defeated Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek to clinch the Miami Open men's doubles title 2024 on Saturday.
The summit clash between the top seed and the second seed lived up to the hype at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami as the Indo-Aussie pair won the fixture 6-7 (3), 6-3, 10-6.
The match lasted an hour and 43 minutes as both pairs went hard at each other from the opening serve. Ebden acknowledged that the victory was hard-earned and lauded Dodig and Krajicek for fighting right to the end.
"It’s tough. These guys, they fight back in tough moments," Ebden was quoted as saying by ATP Tour after the win in Miami. "Last time we played them it was similar, it’s a bit of a see-saw. They return so well, make so many balls and we missed one or two shots when we were up [at the end of] the first set. They played a great tie-break, and then we just reset.
"We just tried a different method. We just relaxed and let ourselves play, and just saw what happened. It turned out well."
Their triumph in Miami has helped them keep their top places in the ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings. Both Bopanna and Ebden have 8080 live points in the ATP ranking and are followed by Krajicek and Dodig who are third and fourth respectively.
Bopanna, 44, emphasised the importance of the serve and mentioned that it's the only thing that a player can be in "in control of".
"I think it’s important, especially when we play no-Ad scoring, and Match Tie-breaks," said Bopanna. "Every time I hit a serve, I felt it was very accurate, and it’s an extremely important aspect of tennis. Everyone starts a point with that serve, and that’s the only thing we have that we are in control of."
Bopanna is enjoying the wonderful run with his doubles partner Ebden and wants to keep doing well at the 1000s and the Grand Slams.
"It’s amazing. As long as you are doing well in these big events, it’s what we play for," said Bopanna. "I want to do well in the Masters 1000s and the Grand Slams. It’s good to keep that record going and keep giving everyone else a run for their money."
