India's Rohan Bopanna finally won his maiden men's Grand Slam title on Saturday by lifting the Australian Open men's doubles trophy alongside Australian Matthew Ebden. The Indo-Australian duo triumphed against the Italian pair of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 7-6, 7-5.
43-year-old Bopanna created history by becoming the oldest-ever man to win a maiden Grand Slam title. He bettered the record of Jean-Julien Rojer who, at the age of 40, had lifted the French Open men's doubles trophy in 2022 with Marcelo Arevola.
Bopanna has reached the US Open final twice (2013, 2023) but a Major trophy has eluded him in his career.
Rohan Bopanna became the third Indian to win a men's doubles Grand Slam title after a final that lasted one hour and 39 minutes.
Only the iconic Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have won Major titles for India in men's tennis while trailblazer Sania Mirza did it in women's tennis.
At 43, Bopanna also became the oldest Grand Slam champion in men's tennis. It was such hard-fought battle at the Rod Laver arena that the contest featured only one break of serve when Vavassori dropped his serve at love in game 11 of the second set. There were not many break points on offer either.
The second seeds had breakpoints in successive games in the beginning of the contest. However, the Italians saved both to stay on even terms.
In game two, off Bolelli's serve, Vavassori hit a volley at 30-30 but Bopanna hit a return long.
In game four, the Italians were again down a break point when at 30-30, a return from Bopanna jumped off the net chord to give the second seeds a free point. However, Vavassori served well to save that point as well.
Serving 4-5, and 30-all, Bolelli was under pressure again but pulled off a powerful cross court forehand which was away from Bopanna's reach and then served huge to make it 5-all.
Ebden's serve came under pressure in game 11 in which he faced a breakpoint, but, after playing deuce points, the Australian closed the game with an ace.
In the tie-breaker, Bolelli's serve was broken twice as the second seeds zoomed to a 5-0 lead without losing a point on their serve. Vavassori too lost his serve to hand their rivals six set points. They converted the first, Ebden finding a forehand winner down the line.
Bopanna will be crowned the new number one on Monday when the ATP rankings will be updated. At 43, he will be the oldest player to be perched on top of the ranking pile.
Second-seeded Ebden and Bopanna on Thursday had beaten Tomas Machac and Zhang Zhizhen 6-3 3-6 7-6 (10-7) in a semifinal contest that lasted two hours and two minutes. The victory in semifinals came a day after he became numero undo in rankings.
Bopanna has reached the US Open final twice (2013, 2023) but a Major trophy has eluded him in his career.
- With PTI inputs