India star Rohan Bopanna made Grand Slam history as he progressed to the semi-finals of the Australian Open 2024 men’s doubles event. Bopanna and his partner Matthew Ebden reached the semi-finals with a straight-sets win against the Argentine pair of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni on Wednesday. Courtesy of the quarter-final win in the Australian Open, Bopanna will become the No. 1 men’s doubles player in the world, at the age of 43. When the rankings are updated, he will become the oldest player in the sport’s history to clinch the numero uno spot.
The feat comes less than a year after Bopanna became the oldest man to qualify for a grand slam final in the Open era, when he and his partner Ebden lost the US Open 2023 final. Bopanna had made his debut more than 20 years ago.
Bopanna entered the Australian Open with a career-high ranking of No. 3. Having progressed to the semi-finals of the year’s first Grand Slam, the veteran Indian is assured of becoming the new No. 1 when the rankings will be updated next week. His men’s doubles partner Mathew Ebden, is assured of the No. 2 spot spot in men’s doubles rankings.
BOPANNA TO BECOME WORLD NO 1 FOR THE FIRST TIME AT AGE 43@rohanbopanna will reach the rankings summit as he moves into the SF of the Australian Open pic.twitter.com/4ne80n0qZ7
— Indian Tennis Daily (ITD) (@IndTennisDaily) January 24, 2024
It was for the first time in 17 attempts that Bopanna managed to enter the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
Earlier, Bopanna and Ebden sealed a spot in the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the Australian Open with a victory over Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic in a tight two-set match 7-6 (8), 7-6 (4) in Melbourne Park.
Koolhof-Mektic took the early initiative and claimed the lead, breaking the 43-year-old Bopanna’s serve as early as the second game of the opening set. To offset the lead, the Indo-Australian duo counterattacked in the seventh game, breaking Mektic.
Bopanna-Ebden’s expertise helped them win 10-8 in the tiebreaker after the set eventually went to it.
The second group followed a similar pattern as well. In the sixth game, Koolhof-Mektic secured the first break point by breaking Bopanna once more. The score was tied at 6-6 when Bopanna and Ebden broke Mektic in the eighth inning.
In an hour and forty-three minutes, Bopanna-Ebden emerged victorious in a tie-break set and secured their place in the quarterfinal.
With ANI inputs
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