Rohan Bopanna and Dutch teammate Matwe Middelkoop reached the French Open men’s doubles semi-finals for the first time in Paris on Monday after the duo from behind beat England-Finland pair Lloyd Glasspool and Henri Heliovaara.
Bopanna, 42, and Middlekoop, 38, beat Glasspool and Heliovaara 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in two hours and four minutes to set up four final clashes with 12th seed Marcelo Arevalo by El Salvador and Jean-Julien Roger of the Netherlands.
Bopanna and Middelkoop lost the first set after the Dutchman’s serve was broken in the ninth game. However, the 16th seed bounced back to claim the second set with the same score and was forced to have a decisive third set.
In the final set, Glasspool and Heliovaara again aimed for Middelkoop’s serve and broke serve to take the lead 4-3 but Glasspool failed to serve 5-4. Bopanna, leading 40-15 in game 10, hit a sensitive return return with Glasspool’s serve landing on the bottom line.
The Englishman hit a forehand on the field towards Middlekoop, who responded with a weak forehand, creating an easy opportunity for Heliovaara to score with a volley. Unexpectedly, Finn hit a backhand volley. Glasspool protested that Bopanna’s lob was long but as he did not stop in that moment and appealed, the presiding umpire dismissed his objection.
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The two pairs then kept their serve leading to a super tiebreak. Glasspool and Heliovaara took the lead 3-0 but the India-Netherlands 16th seed duo excellently scored 10 points in a row to seal the victory.
Bopanna and Middelkoop reached the quarter-finals after saving five points in a thrilling third 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (10) win over two second-seeded players. Croatian Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic. Before that, they won their first and second matches against local wild cards Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg and Luca Van Assche (6-4, 6-1), and Andrey’s Kazakhstan-France pair Golubev and Fabrice Martin (6-3, 6. -4), respectively in the collinear set.
Bopanna reached the semi-finals of a Major’s men’s doubles for the first time since Wimbledon 2015.
The last Indian to win the men’s doubles title at a Grand Slam was Leander Paes, who lifted the trophy alongside Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic at the 2013 US Open while the last Indian to win a Grand Slam title was Bopanna, with Canadian Gabriela. Dabrowski, won the mixed doubles crown at the 2017 French Open.
