Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden cruised into the Wimbledon 2023 men’s doubles semi-finals on Wednesday.
The Indo-Australian pair, seeded sixth, came from behind to beat the unseeded Dutch team of Bart Stevens and Tallon Griekspoor 6(3)-7(7), 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 54 minutes in the quarter-finals of the grass court Grand Slam.
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden, ranked 12th and 16th in the ATP rankings for doubles, respectively, were evenly matched in the first set by world No. 116 Bart Stevens and Tallon Griekspoor, a world No. 31 singles player.
The two teams managed to hold all their serves in the first set. However, Matthew Ebden, who won the Wimbledon doubles title with Max Purcell last year, and Rohan Bopanna had their serves broken in the tie-breaker and conceded a 1-0 lead.
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden seized the momentum early in the second set. They broke Tallon Griekspoor’s serve in the first game but were pegged back immediately in the second.
A break on the serve of Bart Stevens in the seventh game and a hold for love by Bopanna in the 12th forced the match into the decider.
Bopanna and Ebden grew in confidence as the match progressed. They held onto their serves and broke Bart Stevens and Tallon Griekspoor twice to secure a place in the semi-finals of Wimbledon.
The 43-year-old Rohan Bopanna has been in top form this season. He reached the Australian Open final with Sania Mirza earlier this year and has won two ATP titles alongside Matthew Ebden in men’s doubles.
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden will face top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski in the semi-finals, whom they had beaten in the Indian Wells ATP Masters 1000 final in March.