Shubman Gill (left) and Rohan Bopanna.© Instagram
Star India opener Shubman Gill shared a picture with ace Tennis star Rohan Bopanna on Saturday. The right-hand batter took to his official Instagram handle and posted a photo with the World number one men’s doubles player, calling him an “Absolute legend”. In the summit clash of the Australian Open men’s doubles competition, Bopanna and Matthew Ebden beat Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in straight sets 7-6, 7-5 in a thrilling encounter.
Bopanna-Ebden dominated on serve throughout the one-hour, 40-minute match, winning 80 per cent (40/50) of games with their first delivery and not facing a break point to top off a fantastic week.
Bopanna, who made his 17th Australian Open appearance in this edition, comfortably wrapped up his maiden Grand Slam men’s doubles title victory. Aged 43 years 329 days, he also became the oldest Grand Slam champion.
The Indian tennis player is also the third Indian man in the Open Era to win a major men’s doubles title, following Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.
This was Bopanna’s second Grand Slam triumph, his first in men’s doubles. His previous Grand Slam victory came in mixed doubles with Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada at the 2017 French Open.
Talking about the young India opener Gill, he recently slammed a century in the second Test of the ongoing five-match Test series against England at Visakhapatnam after failing in his last 12 innings in the longest format of the game.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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