NEW DELHI: Aged 43, Rohan Bopanna celebrated becoming the oldest number one in men’s doubles history, winning the Australian Open with his partner Matthew Ebden on Saturday.
Bopanna became only the third Indian to win a men’s doubles Grand Slam title after registering a commanding win over the Italian pair of Bolelli and Vavassori in a high-quality game of tennis that lasted an hour and 39 minutes.
The second-seeded Bopanna-Ebden pair were crowned champions after a 7-6(0) 7-5 win in the final.
It was the pair’s maiden title and Bopanna’s first in men’s doubles after 60 previous Grand Slams — a record for most attempts before winning.
Only the iconic Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have won Major titles for India in men’s tennis while trailblazer Sania Mirza did it in women’s tennis.
As It Happened
For Bopanna it is his second Grand Slam title, having won the French Open mixed doubles with Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski in 2017.
At the Rod Laver Arena, Bopanna also became the oldest Grand Slam champion in men’s tennis. He bettered the record of Jean-Julien Rojer who, at age of 40, had lifted the French Open men’s doubles trophy in 2022 with Marcelo Arevola.
It was such hard-fought battle as the contest featured only one break of serve when Vavassori dropped his serve at love in game 11 of the second set. There were not many break points on offer either.
The second seeds had breakpoints in successive games in the beginning of the contest. However, the Italians saved both to stay on even terms.
In game two, off Bolelli’s serve, Vavassori hit a volley at 30-30 but Bopanna hit a return long.
In game four, the Italians were again down a break point when at 30-30, a return from Bopanna jumped off the net chord to give the second seeds a free point. However, Vavassori served well to save that point as well.
Serving 4-5, and 30-all, Bolelli was under pressure again but pulled off a powerful cross court forehand which was away from Bopanna’s reach and then served huge to make it 5-all.
Ebden’s serve came under pressure in game 11 in which he faced a breakpoint, but, after playing deuce points, the Australian closed the game with an ace.
In the tie-breaker, Bolelli’s serve was broken twice as the second seeds zoomed to a 5-0 lead without losing a point on their serve.
Vavassori too lost his serve to hand their rivals six set points. They converted the first, Ebden finding a forehand winner down the line.
Bopanna will be crowned the new number one on Monday when the ATP rankings will be updated. At 43, he will be the oldest player to be perched on top of the ranking pile.
Bolelli had won the Australian Open men’s doubles in 2015 with partner Fabio Fognini.
(With inputs from PTI)