Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna started his 2024 season with a runner-up finish at the ATP 250 Adelaide International in Australia on Saturday.
Bopanna was seeded second with partner Matthew Ebden, and they lost a tight final 5-7, 7-5, 9-11 to third seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
Incidentally, this was the same opponent that had beaten Bopanna and Ebden at the US Open men’s doubles final last year.
The Indo-Australian duo were handed a walkover in their first round match against France’s Albano Olivetti and Sweden’s Andre Goransson, moving into the quarter-final.
In the last eight stage, they beat the South American team of Colombian Nicolas Barrientos and Brazil’s Rafael Matos 6-2, 6-7(4), 10-7. In the semi-final they beat Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-4, 6-4 to make it to the final.
Bopanna, who reached a career-high equalling world No 3 rank, had a solid 2023 season. Aged 43, the veteran is the only active Grand Slam winner from India left on tour after Sania Mirza retired last season.
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But Bopanna came up with what he termed his best season on tour, reaching four ATP finals and winning the title in Doha and the Indian Wells Masters.
He had also partnered Mirza to the Australian Open mixed doubles final last season, before reaching the final in New York with Ebden.