India’s Bopanna creates history as the oldest player to reach a Grand Slam final

India's Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden continued their dream run to enter the men’s doubles final of the US Open with a straight-set win over French pair of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut here on Thursday.

The sixth seeded Indo-Australian pair, who had reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships this year, beat the French combination 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in the semifinals of the hard court major.

With this feat, the 43-year-old player who lives in Bangalore in the southern part of India also became the oldest player to reach a Grand slam final in the Open era. Bopanna beat the record of Daniel Nestor of Canada, who was 43 years and 4 months when he played in a Major final, by two months.

Interestingly, it was also in the US Open where Bopanna competed in his maiden Major final way back in 2010 along with Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

This will be Bopanna's second appearance in a Grand Slam men's doubles final. Earlier this year, he won the Indian Wells Masters, where he became the oldest Masters 1000 champion in history.

“I think the turning point was when we were down 4-2 in the 1st set and saved a break point from going double break down. That kept us in the match. We also had great energy from the crowd. Back in the final after 13 years, happy to be back. I love New York, so why not," said Bopanna in the post-match interview.

In the final, Bopanna and Ebden will play Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury who have a chance for the first U.S. Open men's doubles three-peat in more than 90 years.

The No. 3-seeded team pulled out a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the No. 2-seeded duo of Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek on Thursday, moving into the finals with their 17th straight victory in Flushing Meadows.

Ram, an American with Indian heritage, and Salisbury, from Britain, haven't lost at the U.S. Open since the 2020 semifinals. They are the first team to reach three straight finals in Flushing Meadows since the famed Australian duo of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde from 1994-96, and can become the first to win it three straight times since Americans John Doeg and George Lott Jr. from 1928-30.

Bopanna is already out of the mixed doubles event with a second round defeat with Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi.

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In doubles, Bopanna, who has won 24 career titles, has a win-loss record of 482–359 (57.3%) in ATP World Tour and Grand Slam main-draw matches, and in the Davis Cup.

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