India’s Tennis star Rohan Bopanna and his partner Matthew Ebden scripted history on Saturday after they defeated Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori to become the new Australian Open doubles champions of the men’s division. The Indian and Australian stars won the match 7-6(0), 7-5 against the Italian pair in straight sets.

Bopanna had never won a men’s doubles championship at a Grand Slam event before his victory on Saturday, despite having advanced to the final twice at the US Open—in 2013 and 2023. He has won a Grand Slam match because of his victory in the mixed doubles at the 2017 French Open. (Honoured To Meet Sporting Icon Like You: Neeraj Chopra’s Heartfelt Note For Roger Federer Post-Meeting In Zurich)

After a long, thrilling battle, the duo of Bopanna and Ebden won the first set of the men’s doubles final. After taking the game in a tie-breaker, Bopanna and Ebden produced a dominating performance to claim the first set by 7-6.

After losing the first set, the duo of Bolelli and Vavassori got off to a good start in the first game as the Italian pair comfortably dominated Bopanna and Ebden and registered a scoreline of 40-15, to take a 1-0 lead in the second set.

The second set turned out to be a thrilling encounter, just like the first one. In the ninth game, Bolelli and Vavassori gave a dominating performance as Bopanna and Ebden failed to give a counterattack. However, the blistering Indo-Australian duo made a fine comeback and wrapped up the second set by 7-5, winning maiden Australian Open men’s doubles title.

Earlier in the event, when the Indian tennis phenom teamed up with Ebden to win their quarterfinal match, Bopanna secured the top place in the men’s doubles world rankings, becoming the oldest person to achieve that feat at 43. Thus, following Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi (both in men’s doubles), and former world No. 1 in women’s doubles Sania Mirza, Bopanna became the fourth Indian to reach the top of the global rankings.

At 43, Rohan Bopanna wins his first men’s doubles Grand Slam title – becomes the oldest player to do so. #AO2024pic.twitter.com/uCCmBHE9r9
 Susan Ninan (@ninansusan) January 27, 2024

“On the circuit, we have played lot of Super Tie Breaks, that gets us sharp. They (Machac and Zhang) return extremely well, we had to make sure we serve well and on spots. This partnership (with Ebden) has been good,” Bopanna had said after the semifinal match on Thursday.