Australian Open 2024 tennis: Rohan Bopanna enters men’s doubles semi-finals, set to create history
Bopanna and Ebden beat Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez-Andres Molteni in straight sets in the quarters. The 43-year-old Bopanna will become the oldest world No. 1 doubles player next week.
Tennis
Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden continued their good form and progressed to the semi-finals of the Australian Open 2024 men’s doubles event at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.
Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden, the second seeds, defeated Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, the sixth seeds, 6-4, 7(7)-6(5) in the quarter-final that lasted one hour and 46 minutes.
Bopanna and Ebden held their opening service games on love and broke Gonzalez in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. The Indo-Australian duo saved a breakpoint in the eighth game and went on to clinch the first set.
Bopanna and Ebden also held their serves in the second set but were matched equally by their opponents. The set ran into a tie-breaker which was won by Bopanna and Ebden 7-5.
The Indo-Australian pair bossed their service games on Wednesday, hitting nine aces in two sets compared to two from Gonzalez and Molteni.
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden will be up against the People’s Republic of China’s Zhang Zhizhen and his Czech partner Tomas Machac in their semi-final clash on Thursday.
Zhizhen and Machac strolled past Uruguay’s Ariel Behar and Czechia’s Adam Pavlasek 6-3, 6-1 to make the last four of the Australian Open.
With a place in the semi-final secured, the 43-year-old Bopanna is also set to become the oldest men’s doubles player to reach world No. 1 in the ATP Rankings next week. Bopanna, currently ranked at career-best No. 3, will replace USA’s Austin Krajicek at the top of the rankings. Ebden, ranked fourth, will be the new world No. 2.
“It’s been incredible,” Bopanna said. “Twenty years of being in this sport, playing these tournaments week in, week out and today, reaching the No. 1 ranking. It’s an extremely amazing and proud feeling. It probably hasn’t sunk in fully yet but yes, credit to the entire team.”
Bopanna will become the fourth Indian tennis player to reach world No. 1 in doubles after Olympic bronze medallist Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza.