Australian Open 2024: Bopanna-Ebden pair enters final of men’s doubles

The second seeded Indo-Australian duo of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden defeated unseeded Chinese-Czech pair of Zhang Zhizhen and Tomas Machac 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) to enter the final.

FILE PHOTO: Matthew Ebden (l) of Australia looks on as partner Rohan Bopanna (r) of India. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

The semifinal of the Australian Open 2024 men’s doubles saw the second seeded Indo-Australian duo of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden defeated unseeded Chinese-Czech pair of Zhang Zhizhen and Tomas Machac 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) to enter the final.

In a match that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats, both teams displayed stellar serving, precise volleys, and unwavering determination, resulting in a nail-biting encounter.

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The opening set was a masterclass in service dominance by the experience of Bopanna and Ebden. Their attack proved crucial as they clinched the set by breaking twice with ease.

Undeterred, Zhizhen and Machac came out firing in the second set and clinched it without any kind of issue. They broke the Ind--Australian duo twice to take the match to the decider.

In the third and final set, the Dutch-Croatian pair finally succumbed to relentless pressure from their opponents after taking it to the tiebreak. Bopanna and Ebden were at the top of their games as they broke their opponents twice before they hit back on the 9th game. Eventually, the veteran duo held their nerves and sealed the set and the match in an epic tiebreak.

After the match the 43 year-old Indian, who will have the chance to get his hands on a major doubles trophy on Saturday said, “Really happy to get to yet another Grand Slam final, especially here in Australia,”

“The match was really tough and intense, both the guys (Machac and Zhang) were playing extremely well, returning very hard and flat which made things difficult for us,” said the Bengaluru-boy about the match.

“The experience of playing a lot of tiebreaks helped us in the situation after I lost a serve and Zhang produced some big serves to take the third set to a tiebreak,” Bopanna said after the match.

Bopanna also praised his Australian partner, who will play in front of his home crowd in a Grand Slam final on Saturday. “Playing together this close matches makes a huge difference. This partnership (with Ebden) has been good. We are looking forward to playing the final after a day off tomorrow, he concluded.