Indian tennis veteran Rohan Bopanna created history as he became the oldest player to win an ATP Masters 1000 at Indian Wells with Australian partner Matthew Ebden. Bopanna and Ebedn took down top-seeded Wesley Koohlof and Neal Skupskito to win the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California, USA.
43-year-old Bopanna broke the Canadian Daniel Nestor’s record as he won the 2015 Cincinnati Masters at the age of 42. Notably, Nestor was the Indian star’s former doubles partner. With this title, Bopanna registered his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title after winning his first since Monte Carlo in 2017.
Talking about the match, Bopanna - Ebden got off to a brilliant start as they won the first set 6-3. But this happiness was short-lived as Koohlof - Skupskito registered a dominant 2-6 win in the second set. The third and final set went right down to the wire and Bopanna - Ebden scrapped through to clinch a 10-8 victory and lift the title.
The Indian-Australian duo were on a hot streak entering the final as they beat defending champs John Isner and Jack Sock in Friday's semi-finals. In the Quarterfinals, Bopanna - Ebden defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov. The pair also had a tie-breaker win in their opening match against Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez.
Rohan Bopanna deemed this win as ‘special’ and further reflected on his journey with Ebden in the tournament. "Truly special. It's called Tennis Paradise for a reason," he said. "I've been, over the years, coming here and seeing all these guys win for so many years. I'm really happy that Matt and I were able to do this and get this title here. It's been some tough matches, close matches. Today we played against one of the best teams out there. Really happy that we got the trophy."
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