Bengaluru Open 2020: Paes/Ebden enter quarter-finals with win over Rola-Zhang

The emotions ran high as the legendary Indian tennis player Leander Paes picked up his racket to play his last tournament in India, at the Bengaluru Open.

The 46-year-old winner of 18 Grand Slams (8 men's doubles, 10 mixed doubles) decided to play his final home event at the ongoing ATP Challenger event in Bangalore. Pairing up with Australian Matthew Ebden, Paes began his campaign with an emphatic victory over Blaz Rola and Zhang Zhizhen.

The Indo-Australian pair beat Rola-Zhang 7-6, 6-4 to storm into the quarter-finals.

Paes, who is arguably India's most successful tennis player of all time, had announced earlier that 2020 would be his farewell year in competitive tennis. Calling it the year that will reverberate with his 'One Last Roar', Paes will be playing a full schedule as his bids goodbye to tennis.

Paes and Ebden were impressive in their Round of 16 match as they played the big points with immense composure. Paes used all of his experience to ensure that his team got the job done in straight sets. The Indian proved once more that he still has a lot of tennis left in him, as he produced some incredible shots today.

With this victory, Paes and Ebden are now just three wins short of winning the title. They will take on the third seeded pair of Christopher Rungkat and Andre Goransson in the quarters, who have come into the tournament riding on the success of their Tata Open Maharashtra 2020 title victory.