Chennai Open: Bopanna, Nedunchezhiyan ensure all-Indian final

The duo will face Divij Sharan and Purav Raja in a Men's Doubles final.

India's Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan celebrating after wining the semi-final doubles match against Nicholas Monroe of USA and Artem Sitak of New Zealand the at ATP Chennai Open 2017.

Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan ensured that an ATP event will see its first ever all India final, after the pair defeated USA’s Nicholas Monroe and New Zealand’s Artem Sitak 7-6, 6-4 in straight sets.

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Bopanna’s booming serve was one of the key reasons for the solid performance by the pair — he was easily crossing 200kmph on his first serve. The Indians were dominant right from the start, breaking Monroe’s serve to take the 3-2 lead. However, Jeevan’s serve was immediately broken back by the Kiwi-American pair in the sixth game to make it 3-3.

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The Monroe-Sitak pair was having a tough time holding their serves, and somehow managed to take the first set to the tie breaker where the Indian pair prevailed 7-4, and sealed the first set 7-6.

The second set was a tighter affair, and saw both the teams’ battle hard for the points. It also saw Bopanna show some sportsmanship, as he conceded the point to the other pair, because his yell had caused a hindrance to the opposition while they were going for the shot.

The crowd too got into the game, and was cheering on the Indian pair with all their might, the cheering finally seemed to work as the Indian pairing got the decisive break in the tenth point of the set, when Sitak’s serve was broken and the pairing sealed the set and the match 7-4, 6-4.

Jeevan, who was quite impressive near the net will have to improve his service game, as that seemed to be one of the weakness in this otherwise formidable team.

Now, they will face Divij Sharan and Purav Raja in a final, which is sure to attract a big crowd.

Speaking about it, Bopanna said, “I am very happy that we will see an all India final, it shows how the game has progressed in the country.”

Jeevan thanked Purav for his contribution in helping him better his game, and said it will be a special match.”He has really helped me in improving my game, and also helping me select the right tournaments for improving my ranking. So for me it will be a very special match.”