Miami Gardens, USA: At the Miami Open, veteran Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden defeated Dutchman Sem Verbeek and Australian John-Patrick Smith to reach their third men's doubles semifinal of the year. The pair, who had previously won the Australian Open this year, persevered through multiple unintentional mistakes in the opening set to win the demanding quarterfinal 3-6 7-6 (4) 10-7.
The victory for the 44-year-old Bopanna, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, will help him stay in the top 10 in the ATP doubles ranking and ensure direct qualification for the Paris Olympics in July-August.
The cut-off date for rankings to be considered for direct Paris qualification is June 10.
The Bopanna-Ebden pair, seeded No.1 here, didn't enjoy a dominant first and second-serve percentage but came up with breaks at crucial junctures in the second set to take the match into the tie-breaker before winning it and drawing level, PTI reported.
Bopanna, who won his maiden grand slam at the Australian Open this year, had attained a career-high world No. 1 ranking following the success but has slipped to second spot after a quarterfinal loss at the Dubai Championships and a round-of-32 exit at the Indian Wells Masters.
The Indo-Australian pair will meet the winners of the match between Marcel Granollers (Spain)/Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) and Lloyd Glasspool (UK)/Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) in the last four.
Bopanna and Ebden had also reached the semifinal of the Adelaide Open in January this year and made the title round before losing to Rajeev Ram (USA) and Joe Salisbury (UK).
The American-British duo, though, will not meet the Indio-Australian pair in the semifinals here after they lost in the quarterfinals.