Rohan Bopanna is ageing like a fine wine and a testament to that is his qualification for the finals of the Men's doubles at the ongoing Australian Open 2024.
Bopanna, 43, alongside his Australian doubles partner, Matthew Ebden, made it to the finals of the men's doubles on Thursday (January 25) after securing a three-set thriller against Tomas Machac of Czech Republic and Zhizhen Zhang of China.
The Indo-Aussie pair secured the match by winning it 6-3, 3-6 and 7-6(10-7) and advanced to the final. Both Bopanna and Ebden started in sublime fashion after they claimed the first set 6-3. However, the Chinese-Czech pair came back strongly and took the second set 6-3.
The fixture went in the final set and with a place in the summit clash at stake, both pairs hurled cannonballs at each other. The set went into a tie-breaker and the experienced Indo-Australian duo clinched it and the match to storm into the finals. Though the unseeded pair of Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang ended on the wrong side of the result, it will take a lot of heart from it.
Notably, a 6-4,7-6 (7-5) win in the quarterfinal against Máximo González and Andrés Molteni earlier had assured Bopanna of the world No. 1 ranking. Bopanna seems like a man on a mission. The Bengaluru-born is chasing his maiden men's doubles Grand Slam title. He has suffered losses in his previous two Grand Slam final appearances (US Open 2010 and US Open 2023).
Bopanna and Ebden will face the winners of the second semi-final between the Italian duo of Simone Bolelli, Andrea Vavassori and the German pair of Dominik Koepfer and Yannick Hanfmann. The Italian pair clinched the first set 6-3 but the German duo of Hanfmann and Koepfer came roaring back to claim the second to win it 6-3. The third set is evenly poised at 1-1.
