Rohan Bopanna of India in Adelaide, Australia. File
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Rohan Bopanna earned himself one more opportunity to win a Grand Slam title by reaching the Australian Open men’s doubles final with Australian partner Matthew Ebden after prevailing in a tense semifinal against Tomas Machac and Zhang Zhizhen here Thursday.
The second seeded Indo-Australian pair faced some stiff resistance from their rivals in the third set but eventually the experience of playing Super Tie Breakers helped them nail the finish with a 6-3 3-6 7-6 (10-7) scoreline after two hours and two minutes.
Zhang (WR 54) and Machac (Wr75) are quality singles players, featuring in the top-100 list and their powerful hitting from the baseline did make it a tough contest for the experienced Bopanna and Ebden.
A day after he was assured of becoming the world number one player, Bopanna as usual served well on big points and also manage to pull out the strokes and tricks when they needed the most.
Bopanna has reached the US Open final twice (2013, 2023) but a Major trophy has eluded him in his career.
Now at the fag end of his career at the age of 43, he will have the chance to tick that box on Saturday.
Bopanna and Ebden will face Italian pair of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, who beat German team of Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer 6-3 3-6 7-6 (5) in the other semifinal. “On the circuit, we have played lot of Super Tie Breaks, that gets us sharp. They (Machac and Zhang) return extremely well, we had to make sure we serve well and on spots. This partnership (with Ebden) has been good,” Bopanna said after the match.
Asked about his success despite the age, Bopanna said, “A lot of stuff goes behind the scenes. A big team is part of me. I just made sure I stay focussed on what I need to do get to ready, that is mobility and recovery. I do not look to lift heavy, just do yoga. I feel mental strength helps me.” Ebden said winning in front of the home fans is special.
“I could not be happier, winning before the home fans is special. These guys are super dangerous players. The doubles specialist against singles specialist is great (contest). It’s good for the fans. We have been working hard together for years. One more match to go,” he said.
After splitting the first two sets, the second seeds were in a spot of bother in the opening game, down 0-30 but Bopanna’s big serve came into play and he managed to make an important hold. A cross-court passing winner…
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