Miami: Veteran India tennis professional Rohan Bopanna and his Australian mate Matthew Ebden advanced into the men's doubles final with a dominating straight-sets victory over Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the semi-final clash of the Miami Open 2024 here on Thursday night.
Bopanna and Ebden, the Australian Open winners, registered a comprehensive win as they didn't face any kind of challenge from their rival pair of Spain's Granollers and Argentina's Zeballos 6-1 6-4 in the knockout match.
The 44-year-old Indian has regained his penultimate spot in the men's double ranking. He had lost the top spot after a quarterfinal loss at the Dubai Championships and a round-of-32 exit at the Indian Wells Masters when they were updated on Monday. Following the Australian Open triumph, Bopanna climbed to the world No.1 spot in the ATP rankings, becoming the oldest player to do so.
In the final, the duo of Bopanna and Ebden will square off against Croatia's Ivan Dodig and America's Austin Krajicek, who have defeated the German duo of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz 6-4 6-7(7) 10-7 in the other semifinal.
Notably, this will be the first-ever Miami Open final for the Indian stalwart and the 14th ATP Masters 1000 final. This will also be the fifth appearance in an ATP Masters 1000 final for the Bopanna and Ebden pairing. Bopanna also achieved a rare feat as he became the second Indian after Leander Paes to reach the final of all 9 ATP Masters events.
Overall, this will be his 63rd ATP Tour-level final. He has so far won 25 doubles titles. (With AP inputs)
Read More
