Australian Open 2024: Rohan Bopanna becomes world's oldest grand slam winner after clinching men’s doubles title

The opening came close before going to a tiebreaker, when Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden dominated comprehensively, winning the first set 6 (7)-6 (0).

Tennis player Rohan Bopanna made history on Saturday by defeating the Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the finals of the Australian Open 2024. Rohan Bopanna's second grand slam championship comes after he won the mixed doubles at the 2017 French Open with Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski.

The victory closes off a memorable week for Bopanna, who had come second in men's doubles at the US Open twice. On Thursday, he was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian decoration. Bopanna is the oldest man in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam doubles title, at 43 years and 329 days.

The opening came close before going to a tiebreaker, when Rohan Bopanna and his partner Matthew Ebden dominated comprehensively, winning the first set 6 (7)-6 (0). Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori were now battling for their lives, and they fought in the same way to hit some of the most aggressive strokes in the Australian Open.

Bolelli and Vavassori attacked from the opening serve, but Bopanna and Ebden held their calm and overcame the Italian duo's early advantage.

It was such a hard-fought battle at the Rod Laver arena that the contest featured only one break of serve when Vavassori dropped his serve at love in game 11 of the second set. There were not many break points on offer either. The second seeds had breakpoints in successive games in the beginning of the contest. However, the Italians saved both to stay on even terms.

Bolelli's serve was broken twice in the tie-breaker, and the second seeds raced to a 5-0 lead without losing a single game on serve. Vavassori also lost his serve, handing their opponents six set points. They converted the first, with Ebden delivering a forehand winner down the line.

The numbers changed with each game, but the Indian-Australian duo eventually won 7-5 in the second set. Bopanna will be crowned the new number one on Monday when the ATP rankings are revised.

With agency inputs