India’s Rohan Bopanna scripted history on Wednesday, January 24 becoming the oldest player to become World No. 1 in men’s doubles tennis history.
Melbourne: India woke up on Wednesday to the good news of Rohan Bopanna making the Australian Open 2024 men’s doubles semi-final. At the age of 43, he created history by becoming the oldest doubles No. 1 to reach Australian Open semis. He, along with his Australian partner Mathew Ebden would now be vying for a spot in the summit clash. The Indo-Aus pair beat 6th seed Argentinian pair of Gonzalez and Molteni in straight sets 6-4, 7-6.
This is happens to be Bopanna’s first time in Australian Open doubles semis in 17 attempts.
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.
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
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)