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Rohan Bopanna continued to create history for India at the Australian Open after an exciting semifinal win in the men's doubles event on Thursday, January 25.
Bopanna and Matthew Ebden overcame Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7) to advance to the title round of the Melbourne Grand Slam for the first time, much to the delight of Indian tennis fans.
The 43-year-old is set to become the oldest doubles player to achieve the World No. 1 ranking following the Indo-Australian pair's quarterfinal win at the Australian Open. They beat Andres Molteni and Maximo Gonzalez in that clash 6-4, 7-6(5).
Bopanna and Ebden have thus managed to make it to the championship matches at two successive Grand Slams after having qualified for the final of the US Open last year. They lost that final in three sets to the duo of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
After beginning in style by clinching the first set, Bopanna and Ebden were met with stiff resistance in the second by Machac and Zhang amid a rain interruption at Melbourne. The contest couldn't have been any closer with the decider going into a pulsating tie-break in which Bopanna and Ebden prevailed with some incredible winners.
"Even though they say tennis is an individual sport, there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes" - Rohan Bopanna
Rohan Bopanna was all praise for his Aussie partner Matthew Ebden, crediting their longstanding partnership for having gotten them over the line in the all-important super tie-break.
“Playing those matches together and this partnership together got us through those tie-breaks. Even though they say tennis is an individual sport, there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes. There is a big team which has helped me get to this stage,” the Indian said in a post-match interview.
Rohan Bopanna asserted that he was focussing on mobility and recovery to play his best tennis while also revealing that he did some Yoga as well.
“When I decided to play with Matt, I made sure that I focused on what I needed to be doing to get ready to play my best tennis. I was mainly focusing on mobility and recovery and not really looking to go and lift heavy weights. I've been doing some yoga and the mental strength definitely helps me to get through these tough matches,” he added with a smile.
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden await the winner of the second semifinal which features the Italian duo of Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli, who are up against Dominik Koepfer and Yannick Hanfmann of Germany.
