US Open 2024: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reach men's doubles second round
In an impressive start to their US Open 2024 campaign, India's Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden stormed past the Dutch duo of Sander Arends and Robin Haase. The former pair secured a decisive straight-set victory in the first round.
The second-seeded pair, who were the runners-up in last year's edition, clinched a 6-3, 7-5 win in just 64 minutes at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Thursday, August 29.
The match kicked off with both teams holding their serves but it wasn’t long before Bopanna and Ebden began asserting their dominance. Despite getting broken in the third game, the Indo-Australian duo quickly turned things around.
They shifted momentum completely in their favor, grabbing four consecutive games, including two key breakpoints, to close out the first set. Although the Dutch pair managed to reclaim one game towards the end, the set comfortably went to Bopanna and Ebden.
In the second set, Arends and Haase returned with renewed intensity. On the back of some strong serves and aggressive play, they broke Bopanna and Ebden early and took a 4-1 lead, putting the second seeds on the back foot.
But this is where Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden's experience came to the fore. Rallying back with a combination of powerful serves and strategic shot-making, they leveled the set at 5-5.
As the match neared its end, the Indian-Australian team found another gear, earning a decisive break point and holding their serve to close out the set 7-5. The win marked their first victory after three consecutive losses, injecting much-needed confidence as they move forward in the tournament.
Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden to face Roberto Carballes Baena and Federico Coria in the second round
Next up, Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden will face the Spanish-Argentine pair of Roberto Carballes Baena and Federico Coria in the second round. The match will be played on Friday, August 30, at 11.45 PM IST.
In their first-round match, Carballes Baena and Coria secured a straight-set victory over the Russian-Brazilian duo of Pavel Kotov and Thiago Seyboth Wild. Carballes Baena and Coria won the match 7-5, 6-4 in a tightly contested affair that lasted an hour and 25 minutes.
Now, fresh off this confidence-boosting win, they’ll be looking to carry that form into their second-round encounter against the more experienced and higher-seeded Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden, the US Open 2023 finalists.