Qatar Open 2020: Rohan Bopanna advances to Men's Doubles final

3rd seeded pair Rohan Bopanna and Wesley Koolhof have reached the final of the USD 1,465,260 Qatar Open after getting the better of 2nd seeded pair Henri Kontinen and Franko Škugor 7-5, 6-2 in Doha on Friday. The Indo-Dutch combination will meet unseeded British-Mexican duo of Luke Bambridge and Santiago Gonzalez in the summit clash later in the day.

Bopanna and his Dutch partner earlier reached the semi-finals with a straight-set win over Swiss-American pair Stan Wawrinka and Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4. Henri Kontinen and Franko Skugor, on the other hand, beat Ken and Neal Skupski 6-7(2), 6-4, 13-11 in the first quarterfinal but lost to the Indo-Dutch pair in the semi-final.

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Bopanna, the current India No.1 in men’s doubles, came into the tournament after recovering from a shoulder and knee injury respectively. The Doha Open is the first international tournament for the tennis sensation in the year of the Summer Olympics, which could be his third successive Olympics if he qualifies.

Bopanna is currently ranked 42nd in the ATP’s double rankings, ten spots above Divij Sharan, the second-ranked Indian on the list. In a recent interview to Times of India, the veteran said he is just concentrating on improving his individual ranking.

“Divij and I are trying to qualify for the Olympics as a team. First, we have to make sure our individual rankings are high enough. Whoever we are playing with on the Tour, we are trying to make sure that by the time the French Open comes, which is the time for the cut, our rankings are high enough to qualify, so that we have a team representing India.”

It remains to be seen whether Bopanna and Koolhof can continue their run and go on to lift the title on Friday evening.