Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden beaten narrowly in Shanghai Masters finals as Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers win

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden have qualified for the ATP Finals.

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden beaten narrowly in Shanghai Masters finals as Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers win

Bopanna-Ebden and Zeballos and Granollers (Credits: Scroll and ATP News)

Rohan Bopanna‘s quest for a win ended as he lost with his doubles partner Matthew Ebden to Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers in the ATP 1000 Shanghai Masters final.

The Indian-Australian duo lost to their opponents in a nail-biting three-setter match. Bopanna-Ebden won the first, not so easily by stopping the Argentine-Spanish duo at 7-5. Zeballos and Granollers made a comeback in the second set by easily defeating the Indian-Australian duo at 2-6.

YouTube video

The third and the decider set was one of its kind with the set going for a good many minutes. Both parties were unwilling to back down, displaying unwavering tenacity and determination. In the end, Zeballos and Granrollers won the championship by 5-7, 6-2, 10-7.

FS Video

An interesting thing happened during the match. While serving in the match, Ebden accidentally hit Bopanna’s shoulders, slightly below his head. At first, Bopanna could not understand what happened. Ebden immediately apologized to his partner and the match continued. Fortunately, the incident did not cause any severe injury.

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Bopanna and Ebden qualify for the ATP Finals

On Saturday, Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden won the Shanghai Masters semi-final, securing themselves a coveted position in the ATP Finals. The Indo-Australian team has advanced to their third Masters final this year.

(Credit: AitaTennis)

Bopanna and Ebden successfully weathered a difficult first set against the French combination of Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia. Both teams successfully avoided break points. The seasoned pair, though, took charge in the tie-break and dominated play to win the set 7-6 (0).

Bopanna and Ebden each had breakpoint opportunities in the fourth game of the second set, but they were unsuccessful. Unfortunately, Reboul and Doumbia rallied to win the set 6-4, handing the team a defeat and sending the match into a crucial tiebreaker. Bopanna and Ebden were unfazed and showed their poise and knowledge in the crucial tie-break to win with a final score of 7-6(0), 4-6, 10-2

Bopanna has previous ATP Finals experience, having placed second with different partners in 2012 and 2015; however, this will be Ebden’s first time competing in the illustrious competition.

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