India’s Rohan Bopanna turned the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion when he and his Australian accomplice Matt Ebden captured the lads’s doubles title on the BNP Paribas Open.
The 43-year-old Bopanna and 35-year-old Ebden beat prime seeds Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Neil Skupsky of Britain 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 within the ultimate on Saturday.
“Really particular. It’s referred to as Tennis Paradise for a motive.
“I’ve been coming right here for years and watching all these guys win for thus a few years. I’m actually joyful that Matt and I have been ready to do that and get this title right here.
“It has been some powerful matches, shut matches. Today we performed in opposition to probably the greatest groups on the market. Really glad we acquired the trophy.” Bopanna thus surpassed Canada’s Daniel Nestor, who at 42 had claimed the title because the oldest champion on the 2015 Cincinnati Masters.
He joked, “I talked to Danny Nestor and I told him I’m sorry I’m going to break his record.” “Winning the title, that stays with me, really happy with it.” It was the 43-year-old’s fifth Masters 1000 doubles title and first since profitable at Monte Carlo in 2017. It was the third ultimate of the 12 months for the Indo-Australian pair. He now has 24 Tour-level trophies in his cupboard.
The Indo-Australian pair shocked defending and two-time Desert Champions John Isner and Jack Sock within the semi-finals earlier than getting the higher of Canadian singles stars Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov within the quarters.
Bopanna and Ebden defeated Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez of their opening match.
Former World No. 3 Bopanna has jumped 4 locations to be eleventh within the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles rankings.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
