Rohan Bopanna Reaches Australian Open Men’s Doubles Final after 1st Win as New World No 1

A day after Rohan Bopanna secured his spot as the oldest man to become world No. 1 in doubles ranking, he along with his Australian partner Matthew Ebden won the semifinal match to reach his maiden Australian Open final in men’s doubles.

The second-seed Bopana-Ebden pair beat Zhang Zhizhen and Tomas Machac 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) at the Rod Laver Arena in the semifinal. Bopanna and Ebden reached their second consecutive Grand Slam final together.

With the win on the Rod Laver Arena, where he had lost the mixed doubles final last year alongside the legendary Sania Mirza, who then made her final Slam appearance, Rohan reached his third men’s doubles final at a major. Partnering Ebden, it had happened in the 2023 US Open, where Bopanna became the oldest man to reach a Grand Slam final. The pair had lost to Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. The other was alongside Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi where the duo, famously called the Indo-Pak Express, had lost to the Bryan brothers.

Earlier on Wednesday, Bopanna became the new world No. 1 in men’s doubles after the Indo-Aussie pair beat the Argentinian duo of Máximo González and Andrés Molteni 6-4, 7-6 (5).