Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden booked their place into the Wimbledon 2023 men’s doubles semi-finals on Wednesday. The Indo-Australian pair, seeded sixth, came from behind to overcome the unseeded Dutch team of Bart Stevens and Tallon Griekspoor by 6(3)-7(7), 7-5, 6-2 in a game that lasted for one hour and 54 minutes in the quarter-finals of the grass court Grand Slam.
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden, ranked 12th and 16th in the ATP rankings for doubles, respectively, went toe to toe in the first set but got bested by world No. 116 Stevens and Griekspoor, a world No. 31 singles player.
The two pairs managed to hold all their serves in the first set. However, Matthew and Bopanna had their serves broken in the tie-breaker which handed Stevens and Tallon the advantage of 1-0.
Bopanna and Ebden kicked off the second set with intensity. They broke Tallon Griekspoor’s serve in the first game but were pegged back immediately in the second. A break on the serve of Bart Stevens in the seventh game took the match into the decider.
Bopanna and Ebden grew in confidence as the match progressed. They held onto their serves and broke Stevens and Griekspoor’s serve twice to secure a place in the semi-finals of Wimbledon.
The 43-year-old Rohan Bopanna has been in top form this season. He reached the Australian Open final with Sania Mirza earlier this year and has won two ATP titles alongside Matthew Ebden in men’s doubles.
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden will face top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski in the semi-finals. They will back themselves as they have beaten them in the Indian Wells ATP Masters 1000 final in March this year.