Bopanna/Ebden reaches first final in Miami Open; Indian set to regain No.1 ranking in men's doubles

Miami, March 29 (IANS) Australian Open winners Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden reached their second final of the season as they defeated Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the men's doubles semifinals of the Miami Open ATP Masters 1000 event.

The win will take Bopanna to the top of the rankings when they are updated on Monday as he regains the World No.1 ranking in the ATP List that he achieved in January this year, becoming the oldest player to do so.

The top seeds Bopanna, who won his first Grand Slam men's doubles in Australia this year, and Ebden defeated Granollers and Zeballos 6-1, 6-4 in the semifinals on Thursday.

In the final, Bopanna and Ebden will take on the winner of the semifinal between Kevin Krawietz/Tim Puetz and Ivan Dodig/Austin Krajicek.

This will be the 14th ATP Masters 1000 final for Bopanna, 44, and the first in Miami. Overall, this will be the 63rd ATP Tour level final for India's Bopanna, who has so far won 25 doubles titles.

By beating Granollers and Zeballos in what was their third ATP Tour semifinals of this year, Bopanna and Ebden avenged their defeat to the same pair in the 2023 final. This will be the fifth appearance in an ATP Masters 1000 final for Bopanna/Ebden as a pair.

With Thursday's win, Bopanna became the second Indian tennis player after Leander Paes to reach the final of all 9 ATP Masters events.