Following a fiercely contested semifinal triumph, Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden advance to their first-ever Australian Open final. After beating ZZ Zhang and Tomas Machac at the Rod Laver Arena, Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden have reached their first-ever Australian Open final.
Bopanna and Ebden, who won the quarterfinal and went on to become the top-ranked men’s doubles team, defeated Zhang and Machac to reach the Australian Open final in 2024.
The Indo-Australian duo secured their place in the final by defeating Zhang and Machac 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. With their victory, the two advanced to Grand Slam finals back-to-back after also making it to the US Open final in 2023.
Bopanna and Ebden took the first set 6-3 to get the action underway. After a minor weather delay in the second set, Zhang and Machac triumphed 6-3 to continue their winning streak.
From a 1-4 down, Zhang and Machac pulled off an amazing comeback in the third and final set to force a tiebreaker.
In a thrilling match in the tie-breaker, Bopanna and Ebden prevailed because of some amazing shot-making. Bopanna and Ebden secured their place in the final by winning the tie-breaker 10-7.
Bopanna and Ebden will now play the German team of Dominik Koepfer and Yannick Hanfmann, or the all-Italian team of Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli.
Earlier in the competition, Zhang and Machac had overcome Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, the defending US Open champions.
Speaking following their victory, Bopanna remarked that having spent so much time playing with Ebden had helped them get through the challenging tie-breaker against Zhang and Machac.
We were able to go past those tie-breaks by working together to play those matches and form this connection. Tennis is sometimes described as an individual sport, yet there is a lot of activity that occurs behind the scenes. I’ve come this far thanks to a large crew, Bopanna stated.
“I made sure to concentrate on what I needed to be ready to play my best tennis when I made the decision to play with Matt (Ebden).”
I wasn’t really wanting to go out and do big weights; instead, I was mostly focused on mobility and recuperation. I’ve been practicing yoga, and the mental toughness it gives me helps me get through these hard matches,” said Bopanna.
The road of Boppana/EBdena to the final
Bopanna and Ebden defeated Marc Polmans and James Duckworth, two all-Australians, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 in the opening round. In the second round, they defeated Edward Winter and John Millman in straight sets.
In the third round, they defeated Nikola Mektic and Wesley Koolhof 7-6, 7-6. The Indo-Australian duo effortlessly defeated Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni to advance to the semifinals and solidify their ranking as the top men’s doubles team in the world.
