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India’s Rohan Bopanna became the oldest player to be crowned World No. 1 in the men’s doubles along with his Australian partner Matthew Ebden. The Indian- Aussie pair dominated their quarterfinal clash, registering straight set wins 6-4, 7-6 (5) over the sixth-seeded Argentinian duo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.
The tennis veteran with this win, became the top ranked player, surpassing the record held by Rajeev Ram of USA. It is to be noted that Ram achieved the top ranking in October 2022 at the age of 38. Seeing this historic feat, Bopanna’s former mixed doubles partner and tennis great, Sania Mirza also dropped in ecstatic reaction. “So proud Ro ��� no one deserves it more @rohanbopanna,” Mirza wrote.
“@rohanbopanna getting World Number 1 today after 20 years on tour in my opinion is one of the greatest stories in Indian Sport!!! @AustralianOpen,” Mahesh Bhupathi captioned his post.
“World No.1 looks good on you, Bopsy. Thanks for always inspiring us,” said Sumit Nagal after Bopanna-Ebden pair’s straight set win at the Australian Open 2024.
Apart from the tennis personalities, several other from the Indian subcontinent hailed the achievements of Bopanna. Check reactions of Rohan Bopanna’s feat here:
The new World No. 1 will face unseeded Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang in the semifinals on Thursday, 25 January at 7:30 a.m. IST.
