Bopanna-Ebden clinches Miami Open Title; Bopanna creates new record
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The legendary Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna made history when he and his partner Matthew Ebden won the Miami Open by defeating American Austin Krajicek and Ivan Dodic of Croatia 6-7 6-3 10-16. Bopanna, 44, made history by being the oldest person to win an ATP Masters 1000 title in the process.
The tennis player shattered his own record, which he set with his Indian Wells victory the previous year. With the victory at the Miami Open, Bopanna also made history by becoming the second Indian to make it to the finals of all nine ATP Masters 1000 events, after Leander Paes.
Bopanna and Ebden dropped the opening set 6-7 after a sloppy start to the match. Nonetheless, the Indo-Aussie duo maintained composure and emerged victorious in the match. A 6-3 victory was secured by Bopanna-Ebden in the second set. They prevailed 10–6 in the third and final set, dominating their opponents and turning the tide of the match in their favour, NDTV reported.
Bopanna-Edben advanced to the final from the semi-final round after defeating Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-1 and 6-4.
In an exciting final at the Australian Open this year, the pair defeated Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori of Italy in straight sets, 7-6, 7-5. It was Bopanna's second career Grand Slam title and his first in men's doubles. At the 2017 French Open, he and Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski won a Grand Slam match in mixed doubles.
In this event, Bopanna, who was playing in his 17th Australian Open, won the men's doubles title with ease, marking his first Grand Slam triumph. In addition, he became the oldest Grand Slam champion at 43 years, 329 days.
After Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, the Indian tennis player is the third man from that country to win a major men's doubles championship during the Open Era. After winning the title, he also became the world's first-ranked player.