Rohan Bopanna, Ramkumar Ramanathan win Adelaide International tennis title
The Indian pair defeated top seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in the men’s doubles final.
India’s Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan won the men’s doubles title at the Adelaide International ATP 250 tennis tournament on Sunday after defeating Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Brazil’s Marcelo Melo 7-6(6), 6-1 in the final.
This was the first time that Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan teamed up on the ATP Tour. The Indian pair was unseeded in the tournament. The triumph marked veteran Rohan Bopanna’s 20th ATP title while for Ramkumar Ramanathan, it was his first.
Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan sailed past Bosnia’s Tomislav Brkic and Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez, seeded fourth, in straight sets in the semis but the final against the top-seeded duo of Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo proved tougher.
Dodig and Melo – both former Grand Slam champions – pushed Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan hard but the Indian duo dug deep and held on. After saving multiple break points and converting a couple of their own Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan eked out a tight 7-6 win.
The second set, in stark contrast, was a one-sided affair as Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan dominated from start to finish to cruise through 6-1. The contest lasted one hour and 21 minutes.
Ramkumar Ramanathan will be vying for a spot in the men’s singles main draw at the Australian Open 2022 later this month. He will be in action in the qualifiers.
Rohan Bopanna, meanwhile, will play in the second Adelaide International tournament, which starts on Monday. The Indian will team up with Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the doubles.
Elsewhere, India’s Arjun Kadhe and Italian partner Marco Bortolotti defeated Belgium’s Michael Geerts and the USA’s Michael Geerts to clinch an ATP Challenger title in Forli, Italy.