In a remarkable display of teamwork, India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden secured their place in the US Open final on Thursday (7).
They clinched victory in straight sets against the French duo of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, extending their impressive tournament journey.
This will be Bopanna’s second appearance in a Grand Slam men’s doubles final.
The sixth seeded Indo-Australian pair, who had reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships this year, beat the French combination 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in the semifinals of the hard court major.
With this feat, the 43-year-old Indian also became the oldest player to reach a Grand slam final in the Open era.
Bopanna beat the record of Daniel Nestor of Canada, who was 43 years and 4 months when he played in a Major final, by two months.
Interestingly, it was also in the US Open where Bopanna competed in his maiden Major final way back in 2010 along with Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.
In the final, Bopanna and Ebden will play the winner of the other semifinal between the American pair of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury and the Croatian-American duo of Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek at the Louis Armstrong stadium.
Bopanna is already out of the mixed doubles event with a second-round defeat with Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi.
(PTI)
