While you were asleep, Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna, along with his partner Matwe Middelkoop, has pulled off a stunning heist to enter the French Open semi-finals. They came from behind to beat the British-Finnish duo of Lloyd Glasspool and Henri Heliovaara by 4-6, 6-4, 7-6.
It has been a season of comebacks for Bopanna and Middlekoop. After going down in the first set, they stepped up and canceled the deficit to take the game to the third set. The pair found themselves on a cusp of defeat, after trailing by 5-4.
But Bopanna struck three excellent winners, including an inside-out backhand, to take the game to the tiebreaker. The duo then lost three successive points before winning the next ten points to finish off the game in style.
In their previous game, the Indian-Dutch duo saved five match points to outmuscle the reigning champions, Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic, in two hours and 32 minutes.
Bopanna and Middelkoop will now face Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer for a place in the final. Arevalo and Rojer defeated Rafael Matos and David Vega in straight sets in the quarter-final.
Bopanna, who is the oldest player ranked inside the ATP top 70, has previously won the French Open title in 2017 in the mixed doubles category. This year, however, his mixed doubles campaign came to an early end after he and Andreja Klepac lost to Lucie Hradecka and Gonzalo Escobar by 7(7)-6(2), 6-4.
It has been a great year for Bopanna, who won the ATP 250 event in Adelaide with his compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan. He has also paired up with players like Aslan Karatsev and Denis Shapalov. In an interview with Sportstar, Bopanna told how he met his current partner Middlekoop.
“Actually, it was just one event we had played in Antwerp a couple of years ago. We went to the finals in that tournament in Antwerp. So I kind of knew we got along well. Our game style suited pretty well so we said ‘why not? Let’s give it a try in the clay-court season’ but unfortunately the cuts have been so strong,” said Bopanna.
Featured Image Credit: Roland Garros
