MIAMI: The men’s doubles duo of India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australia’s Matthew Edben reached the semifinal of the ongoing Miami Open tennis tournament on Wednesday. They beat Australia’s John Patrick-Smith and his Netherlands’ partner Sem Verbeek in the QFs by 3-6, 7-6(4), 10-7.
The first set for the India-Aussie duo was nothing short of a horror show, as numerous unforced errors put them on a backfoot and they lost it. But the experience and chemistry of this duo were evident in how they put the first-set loss aside to secure the next two sets.
In the Australian Open held this year, the duo defeated Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in straight sets, 7-6, 7-5, in a thrilling final. It was Bopanna’s second career Grand Slam title and his first in men’s doubles. His previous Grand Slam victory came in mixed doubles with Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada at the 2017 French Open.
Bopanna, who made his 17th Australian Open appearance in this edition, comfortably wrapped up his maiden Grand Slam men’s doubles title victory. Aged 43 years, 329 days, he also became the oldest Grand Slam champion.
The Indian tennis player is also the third Indian man in the Open Era to win a major men’s doubles title, following Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. He also became the world’s first number one ranked player following the title win.
Also, in the men’s singles quarterfinals, top-seed Carlos Alcaraz extended his winning streak to nine matches following a straight-set win over Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-3, which sealed him a place in the tournament quarterfinals.
Alcaraz’s opponent will be Grigor Dimitrov, who went past the eight-seeded Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) in his round of 16 match.
Also, Alex De Minaur, the world number ten, lost to 57th-ranked Fabian Marozsan of Hungary by 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 in his round-of-16 match in an absolute shocker. Fabian’s opponent will be Alexander Zverev, who had beat Karen Khachanov 6-1, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals.
The campaign of Christopher O’Connell also met its conclusion as he was defeated by Jannik Sinner by 6-4, 6-3. Sinner, the Australian Open winner, raced to QFs following this win.
The Miami Open 2024 started on March 17 and will end on March 31. (ANI)