Rohan Bopanna becomes oldest man to reach Grand Slam final in Open era.
Delhi: Rohan Bopanna of India advanced to the men’s doubles championship match at the 2023 US Open on Thursday, making him the oldest player to do so during the Open era. In the Louis Armstrong Stadium semifinal, Bopanna and his Australian pair Matthew Ebden defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. The 43-year-old Bopanna has now advanced to the men’s doubles final of a Grand Slam twice; the first time was at the 2010 US Open, where he faced Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi for the championship.
The only Grand Slam title in Bopanna’s career has come in the mixed doubles event at the French Open in 2017, in which he had partnered up with Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski. He had also reached the mixed doubles finals of the Australian Open earlier this year but finished runners-up with fellow Indian Sania Mirza, who went on to retire from the sport later in the year. He had also reached the mixed-doubles final of the Australian Open in 2023 with Timea Babos. He had entered the mixed doubles event of the 2023 US Open with Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi. Their run ended in the second round.
In the final, Bopanna and Ebden will play the winner of the other semifinal between the American pair of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury and the Croatian-American duo of Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.
