On Saturday, the 2024 Australian Open began to wrap up, as the women's singles and men's doubles finals took place. Aryna Sabalenka won the former, while Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden took on Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the latter.
After reaching the final of the US Open in 2023, Bopanna & Ebden entered the first Grand Slam of 2024 as the second-seeded pair. Bolelli and Vavassori were unseeded but beat eighth seed German pair Kevin Kraweitz and Tim Pütz in the quarterfinal.
Australian Open 2024: Rohan Bopanna becomes oldest man to lift Grand Slam title; wins men's doubles alongside Matthew Ebden
The first set of the final was a hotly-contested one, lasting nearly an hour. Neither pair gave an inch, winning all their service games to lock the score at 6-6. The experience of Bopanna and Ebden came to the fore in the tiebreak, however, as they cruised through to win 7-0 and strike the first blow.
The second set was locked at 5-5, before Bopanna & Ebden broke for the first time in the match, giving Ebden the chance to serve for the title. The pair closed out the decisive game in clinical fashion to win 7-6 (0), 7-5.
The win made Bopanna the oldest-ever man to win a Grand Slam title, at the age of 43. Martina Navratilova is still the oldest Grand Slam winner ever, having won the 2003 Wimbledon mixed doubles title alongside Indian Leander Paes.
This is also Bopanna's first-ever Australian Open title, and second Grand Slam title after a French Open mixed doubles win in 2017.
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