India's Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden lost the men's doubles final of the ongoing US Open as they went down fighting to defending champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury on Friday, September 8.
Playing at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, the Bopanna and Ebden pair began in a domineering fashion and won the first set 6-2. However, the defending champions roared back in style and stamped their authority on the game by clinching the next two sets to win the title. The match acted as an amazing spectacle for spectators and experts of the game alike as both pairs delighted everyone with some jaw-dropping tennis.
The pair of Ram and Salisbury created history as it became the first to claim three straight US Open titles. The contest was an incredible opportunity for Bopanna to win his first Grand Slam title but it wasn't meant to be. After a convincing display of tennis in the first set, the tables suddenly turned in favour of Salisbury and Ram as they made their presence felt in the second set with a spring in their steps.
The deciding point of the second set summarised the way the American-English duo dominated it as Ram fired an ace from his armoury to drive the match into the decider third set. The third set witnessed a resilient phase of play from the defending champions as they foiled every attacking move from Bopanna and Ebden and cruised to their third consecutive US Open men's doubles title.
This was Bopanna's second US Open men's doubles final, having contested in the summit clash of the 2010 edition alongside his then-partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan. The Indo-Pak duo came agonisingly close to clinching the title but eventually faced defeat at the hands of the legendary Bryan brothers - Bob and Mike Bryan.
