Melbourne [Australia], January 18 : The pair of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden dug deep to secure a place in the second round of the men's doubles in the Australian Open on Thursday.
The Indian-Australian duo were asked all sorts of questions by James Duckworth and Marc Polmans. They defeated the Australian pair by 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (10-2) to seal their birth in the next round.
Both pairs were evenly matched across all facets of the game, but the duo of Bopanna and Ebden clinched 114 points in comparison to the Australian pair's tally of 110.
Even in terms of gaining points from service, the Indian-Australian duo pulled out 80 service points while the Australian pair managed to clinch 71 points from service.
In the first set, Bopnna and Ebden found themselves down and out with the scoreline reading 5-0 in favour of the Australian pair.
They showed remarkable grit and against all odds took the set to tie tie-break. Armed with experience, Bopanna and Ebden clinched the first set.
In the second set, Duckworth and Polmans fought back to level the tie and set a nail-biting decider.
Bopanna and Ebden relied on their volley and used the court to their advantage. The Australian pair matched their opponents but in the end, the Indian-Australian duo emerged victorious and moved to the next round.
Bopanna and Ebden will return to action on Friday with John Millman and Edward Winter awaiting them in the next round. The Indian-Australian duo will back themselves to another successful outing after they managed to reach the final in the Australian Open's last iteration.
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