New York: India’s Rohan Bopanna on Thursday became the oldest male player to reach the Grand Slam final setting a world record after he and his partner Matthew Ebden of Australia reached the men’s doubles final at the US Open here.
Playing at the Louis Armstrong Stadium, the sixth-seeded pair of Bopanna and Ebden defeated the French pair of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (3), 6-2 in a semifinal clash that lasted 1 hour 34 minutes.
In the process, Bopanna continued to defy age as he reached the US Open men’s doubles final at 43 years and 6 months.
Bopanna, the fourth Indian player to win a Grand Slam when he claimed the 2017bFrench Open mixed doubles crown with Gabriela Dabrowski, beat the record held by Daniel Nestor of Canada, who had done the same at the age of 43 years and 4 months. Bopanna is currently ranked 14th in doubles rankings.
This is the second time that Bopanna has reached the men’s doubles final at the US Open, after doing so in 2010 with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.
In doubles, Bopanna, who has won 24 career titles, has a win-loss record of 482–359 (57.3%) in ATP World Tour and Grand Slam main-draw matches, and in the Davis Cup.
He and Matthew Ebden will next play the winner of the second semifinal between the third-seeded pair of Andy Ram/Joe Salisbury and second-seeded Ivan Dodig/Austin Krajicek in the final.
–IANS