Indian veteran tennis player Rohan Bopanna rewrote his own record to continue to be the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion as he and his Australian partner Matt Ebden won the men’s doubles crown at the Miami Open. Continuing their impressive season, the 44-year-old Bopanna and Ebden rallied from a set down to pull off an exciting 6-7(3), 6-3, 10-6 win over Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and American Austin Krajicek at Hard Rock Stadium.
With the win, Bopanna surpassed his record created last year when he won the Indian Wells title at 43 and recaptured the top spot in the doubles rankings. This was Bopanna’s fourteenth ATP Masters 1000 final. Overall, this was the senior Indian player’s 63rd ATP Tour final and 26th doubles title. Bopanna also accomplished a remarkable milestone, becoming the second Indian after Leander Paes to reach the finals of all nine ATP Masters tournaments.
Bopanna and Ebden, the tournament’s top seeds, used their extensive expertise to secure the final six points in the summit encounter. They had three set points on serve at 6-5 in the first set, but their second-seeded opponents saved all three, forcing a tiebreaker and taking a 1-0 lead. Bopanna and Ebden then produced a comeback, breaking their opponent early in the second set to square the game. The tiebreaker, like the first two sets, was battled evenly, with the reigning Australian Open champions coming out on top.
After winning the Australian Open, Bopanna became the oldest player to reach the top of the ATP rankings. However, he dropped to second place in the doubles rankings with a quarterfinal loss at the Dubai Championships and a round-of-32 departure at the Indian Wells Masters. However, with a title win in the Miami Open, the pair will reclaim the top spot in the rankings.
It’s amazing. As long as you are doing well in these big events, it’s what we play for. I want to do well in the Masters 1000s and the Grand Slams. It’s good to keep that record going and keep giving everyone else a run for their money, Bopanna said after winning the title.
It’s tough. These guys fight back in tough moments. The last time we played them it was similar, it’s a bit of a see-saw. They returned so well, made so many balls and we missed one or two shots when we were up in the first set. They played a great tie-break, and then we just reset, Ebden expressed.
