Local hope Matt Ebden and veteran Rohan Bopanna have booked a place in the Australian Open men’s doubles final after victory over Tomas Machac and Zhang Zhizhen on Thursday.
The Indian-Australian pair needed three sets but eventually prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) in two hours and two minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
It’s the third year in a row at least one Australian will compete in the men’s doubles final at Melbourne Park but Ebden admitted this semi-final was “super close”.
“What an epic third set and I’ve just got to hand it to my partner, we’ve been fighting since round one, a lot of tough moments – fighting through one by one in front of our home crowd – so we couldn’t be happier.”
Ebden and his 43-year-old partner needed a ten-point tiebreak in the deciding set to secure victory against the big-serving Zhang, who is ranked 54 in singles, and skilful Machac, who reached the third round in singles at Melbourne Park.
Ebden and Bopanna, who this week became the oldest man to become world doubles No 1, have won all six tiebreaks they have contested in their run to the final.
The Indian said the experience he and his partner have gained by playing regularly together keeps them “pretty sharp” on the key points. Serving up 8-7 in the deciding tiebreak, Bopanna delivered two powerful serves down the T, including a 204km/h ace on match point.
“We had to make sure we hit our serves on the spots,” he said. “Playing those matches together, and this partnership together, I think got us through those tiebreaks.”
Italian pair Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli were scheduled to play Germans Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer in the other semi-final on Thursday afternoon.
Bopanna and Ebden came into the match as second seeds, and had already clinched the world’s top two doubles ranking places by getting to the semi-final.
Against the unseeded Czech-Chinese they started well. The local favourites were up one set and had not even given up a break point chance when rain briefly stopped play and the roof was closed.
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Almost immediately after the resumption they were broken in the fourth game of the second set. Zhang and Machac then lost just six points on their serve in the frame to surge back into the contest.
But the Indian-Australian pair steadied, and were soon up a break in the deciding set. Their capable opponents made a final surge to force the super tiebreak, but Bopanna’s late heroics secured victory.
The win continues the strong recent showings by local players in the doubles draw. Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis beat Ebden and Max Purcell in the 2022 final. Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler won the title last year.
Bopanna had already secured the doubles No 1 ranking with victory in the quarter-final. He and Ebden will be on the same number of points at the end of the tournament, though the Australian has played three extra tournaments over the rankings period, making Bopanna outright top.
The Indian will become the oldest man to hold the doubles No 1 ranking when the next update is made next week.
The semi-final win guarantees $400,000 in prize money, split between the pair. The team winning the final shares $730,000.