Tennis
Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reaches Miami Open semifinal
Bopanna and Ebden, the winners of the Australian Open in January, defeated Sem Verbeek and Australian John-Patrick Smith 3-6, 7-6 (4), 10-7 to reach the semifinal.
FILE PHOTO: Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden reached the final of the US Open on September 7, 2023.
World no. 2 Rohan Bopanna and his Australian men's doubles partner Matthew Ebden advanced to the semifinal of the ATP Miami Masters on Tuesday night.
Bopanna and Ebden, the winners of the Australian Open in January, defeated the Dutch-Australian pairing of Sem Verbeek and Australian John-Patrick Smith 3-6, 7-6 (4), 10-7 to reach the last four.
The victory will help the 44-year-old Indian to stay in the top 10 of the ATP doubles rankings and secure a quota place in the Paris Olympics.
The cut-off date for the Paris Olympics has been set at June 10.
Against Verbeek and Patrick Smith, Bopanna and Ebden committed several unforced errors in the opening set. But they came up with breaks at crucial junctures in the second set to take the match into the tie-breaker before winning it and drawing level.
Bopanna, who rose to the world no. 1 ranking following his Australian Open title-winning show, slipped to the second spot after his quarterfinal loss at the Dubai Championships and a round-of-32 exit at the Indian Wells Masters.
In the semifinal, Bopanna and Ebden will face the winners of the match between Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, and Lloyd Glasspool and Jean-Julien Rojer in the last four.
Besides the Australian Open, Bopanna and Edebn reached the title round at the Adelaide Open in January where they lost to Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
