Highlights-
• RohanBopanna and RamkumarRamanathan clinched the doubles title at the 2022 Tata Open.
• The Indians won the title by defeating Australia’s Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith.
• It was Bopanna’s 21st ATP doubles title and Ramkumar’s second at this level.
With a stunning victory in the final, star Indian pair RohanBopanna and RamkumarRamanathan clinched the doubles title at the 2022 Tata Open Maharashtra. The Indian players won their second ATP title together by defeating Australian players. The Indians won the title by defeating Australia’s Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith by 6-7 (10-12), 6-3, 10-6.
The star duo
Bopanna and Ramkumar won the Adelaide event as a pair for the first time on the ATP Tour ahead of the Australian Open last month. This is Bopanna’s 21st ATP doubles title and Ramkumar’s second at this level. With this title, Ramkumar will break into the top-100 in doubles for the first time in his career. The pair will split $16370 (approximately Rs 12.22 lakh) in prize money. They both will also have a ranking advantage of 250 – 250 points.
The star duo
Even at the age of 41, Bopanna maintains his fine game. “Experience makes things easier,” he said after this victory. “ The most important benefit of many years of experience is that my body feels great right now, whose efforts made such a difference for me that I can try something new even at this age”.
Brilliant planning triumphs
In the first four games of the match, both pairs relied on big serves, which cost Ramkumar and Luke a point each. The Indian pair led 3-2 and had a chance to break Patrick-Smith’s serve but they were unable to do so. After the score was 6-6, the pair had to bear the brunt of an awkward mistake by Bopanna in the tie-breaker. The Indian pair needed a good start in the second game, and they did the same in the third game by breaking Lukey’s serve and eventually winning the title.
