Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan continued their brilliant run at the ATP Maharashtra Open and entered doubles final after a thrilling win over Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Saturday.
Aiming to win their second title of the year, the star Indian duo outlasted the French pair, making a sensational comeback in the tie-breaker to wrap up the match 4-6, 6-4, 12-10.
The Indian duo trailed 1-5, 2-7 in the Super Tiebreak (effective third set) and faced three match points at 6-9. Ramkumar’s forehand at that point caught the line by millimeters. The second match point was saved after a sensational rally. Finally, Bopanna got the placement perfect on his forehand to clinch the match.
The fourth edition of South Asia’s only ATP-250 event, which has been organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association, has allowed a few fans for the final stages and they witnessed an epic late comeback from the Indian duo. Bopanna went as far as saying the comeback was because of the energy the crowd gave them.
Earlier this year, playing together for the first time, Bopanna and Ramkumar had clinched their maiden title in Adelaide. The Indians, seeded second, will now take on top-seeded Australian duo of Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith in the final.
The final matches of singles as well as doubles categories will be played on Sunday.
Earlier in the singles semi-finals, Portugal’s Joao Sousa drew on his experience to end Elias Ymer’s sensational run at the tournament, with a remarkable three-set win to enter the singles final.
Sousa fought back from a set down to win the nail-biting semi-final 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5. He will take on sixth-seeded Emil Ruusuvuori in the summit clash.
Earlier, Ruusuvuori held his nerve during the crucial second set tie-breaker to secure a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6 (7-0) victory against Kamil Majchrzak and seal his berth in the final.
Ymer, who stunned top-seed and the World No. 15 Aslan Karatsev in the earlier round to earn the biggest win of his career, made a confident start to race to a 4-1 lead but Sousa recovered well in time to draw level at 5-5. However, Ymer regrouped and pocketed the set to take 1-0 lead in the match.
Regarded as the best Portuguese player of all time, the former World No. 28, capitalised on the momentum gained towards the end of the opening set and led 4-1 in the second set. Sousa took away the set 7-4 in the tie-breaker.
The 32-year-old experienced campaigner put pressure on Ymer, who was in search for his first ATP title, giving him a neck-and-neck fight in the decider and successfully titled the momentum in his favour in a gruelling contest that lasted for more than three hours.
Results (semi-finals):
Singles: (6) Emil Ruusuvuori bt Kamil Majchrzak 6-3, 7-6 (7-0); Joao Sousa bt Elias Ymer 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5
Doubles: Rohan Bopanna/Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Sadio Doumbia/ Fabien Reboul 4-6, 6-4, 12-10
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