Miami (US): Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna rewrote his own record to continue as the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion as he and Australian partner Matt Ebden clinched the men’s doubles crown at the Miami Open on Saturday.
Continuing their hot streak this year, Bopanna and Ebden, 44, fought back from a set down to claim an exhilarating 6-7(3), 6-3, 10-6 victory over Croatian Ivan Dodig and American Austin Krajicek. at Hard Rock Stadium.
With this victory, Bopanna surpassed his record set last year when he won the Indian Wells title at the age of 43, and also reclaimed the top spot in the doubles rankings.
“It’s amazing. As long as you do well in these big events, that’s what we play for,” Bopanna said after the victory.
“I want to do well in the Masters 1000 and Grand Slams. It’s good to maintain this record and continue to give a hard time to everyone,” added Bopanna, who won his first Grand Slam title in doubles at the Australian Open earlier. This year.
It was Bopanna’s 14th ATP Masters 1000 final. Overall, it was the 63rd ATP Tour final and 26th doubles title for the Indian veteran.
Bopanna also achieved a rare feat of becoming the second Indian after Leander Paes to reach the final of all nine ATP Masters events.
Top seeds Bopanna and Ebden drew on their deep reservoir of experience to claim the final six points of the summit clash. They had three set points on serve at 6-5 in the first set, but their second-seeded opponents repelled all three to force a tiebreaker before taking a 1-0 lead.
“It’s tough. These guys, they fight through tough times,” Ebden said.
“Last time we played them it was the same, it’s a bit of a seesaw. They come back so well, make so many balls and we missed one or two shots when we were leading (at the end of the) first set They played a great tie-break and then we just reset.”
Bopanna and Ebden then staged a comeback by breaking their opponent early in the second set, which helped them level the match.
As in the first two sets, the tie-break was also played out on an even playing field, with the reigning Australian Open champions emerging victorious.
Following his triumph at the Australian Open, Bopanna rose to No. 1 in the world in the ATP rankings, becoming the oldest player to achieve this. But he slipped to second place in the doubles rankings after a quarter-final defeat at the Dubai Championships and a round of 16 elimination at the Indian Wells Masters.
