Bopanna-Ebden reaches Australian Open men's doubles final

Melbourne: Rohan Bopanna earned himself one more opportunity to win a Grand Slam title by reaching the Australian Open men's doubles final with Australian partner Matthew Ebden after prevailing in a tense semifinal against Tomas Machac and Zhang Zhizhen here Thursday.

The second-seeded Indo-Australian pair faced some stiff resistance from their rivals in the third set but eventually, the experience of playing Super Tie Breakers helped them nail the finish with a 6-3 3-6 7-6 (10-7) scoreline after two hours and two minutes.

A day after he was assured of becoming the world's number one player, Bopanna as usual served well on big points and also managed to pull out the strokes and tricks when they needed the most.

Bopanna has reached the US Open final twice (2013, 2023) but a Major trophy has eluded him in his career.

Now at the fag end of his career at the age of 43, he will have the chance to tick that box on Saturday.