Adelaide: The Indo-Australian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden advanced into the final of the Australian Open beating China's Zhang Zhizhen and Czech Republican Tomas Machac on Thursday. The Indian star notched up a sensation win after being assured of the number 1 spot in the rankings on Monday.
Bopanna and Ebden started the match on a positive note and pocketed the first set by 6-3. They broke Machac's serve in the fourth game of the first set and maintained the lead throughout the proceedings. However, the opponents made their way back into the match winning the second set by 6-3. Once again, the fourth game turned out to be decisive in the second set but this time Indo-Australian pair's service was breached.
The third and final set of the match went into the tiebreak as Bopanna and Ebden lost their lead after getting to 3-1 early in the set. But, the opponents broke their serve late in the set to script a comeback. The ten-point tiebreak was won by the Indo-Australian pair as they won it by 10-7.
Boppanna and Ebden smashed six aces in the match as compared to three from their rivals. Also, they hit 33 winners to emerge triumphant in the encounter. They will now face the winner of the second semifinal between Germany's Dominik Koepfer and Yannick Hanfmann, and the Italian combination of Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli. The Indian veteran would be aiming to win his first men's doubles Grand Slam trophy.
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