On Saturday, Indian tennis veteran Rohan Bopanna and Australian Matthew Ebden’s ATP Finals journey in men’s doubles tournament ended in the semifinals following losses to Spain’s Marcel Granollers and Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos in Turin, Italy.
The third-seeded Indian-Australian pair fell 7-6, 6-4 to the fifth-seeded 2023 Wimbledon finalists in Turin in less than two hours. The match was place on the Pala Alpitour’s hard courts. Both partners easily held their serves for the opening seven games.
Bopanna and Ebden had a break-point opportunity in the eighth game, but the Australian produced an unforced error, level the score at 4-4.
In the eleventh game, Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos capitalised on a handful of Ebden’s double faults to grab an early lead, hold their service, and finally take the break.
The second set began with Rohan Bopanna, 43, apparently flawlessly retaining his serve on love. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos had grabbed the lead in the second set when Ebden made two double faults in the third game, which proved pivotal.
Bopanna and Ebden went on to lose in the semi-finals because they were unable to break their opponents in the final set.
Bopanna had previously competed in three ATP Finals, in 2011, 2012, and 2015-2016. The Indian tennis player was defeated in the finals in both 2012 and 2015, the first time by fellow countryman Mahesh Bhupathi and the second time by Romanian Florin Mergea.
Bopanna made history earlier this week in Turin by being the oldest player to reach the ATP Finals semi-finals. Bopanna and Ebden also defeated the Australian Open winners, Rinky Hijikata-Jason Kubler, and the defending Wimbledon champions, Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, in straight sets.
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