#TataOpen : Bopanna And Sharan Crowned Champions On Dream Debut

Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan cruised to a straight-set victory in the final over the British Pair of Luke Bambridge and Jonny O'Mara Credit: Tata Open

Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan successfully avoided a third successive super tiebreaker to defeat Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara in straight sets to lift the trophy.

All that hard work in two consecutive super tiebreakers finally pays off!

India’s Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan clinched the doubles title at the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune on Saturday with a straight-set victory of 6-3,6-4 over their British counterparts, Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara. 

Playing their first ATP Tour finals together, the Indian duo started the proceedings by bagging the first game with ease, courtesy Bopanna’s stinging serves that left the opponents scrambling at the base line. Bambridge O’Mara equaled the score line in the next game—making it 1-1—  with a big service game from the former.

The two teams found themselves tied again at 3-3 after six games, with Sharan and O’Mara also producing big service games. Sharan looked more comfortable on his first serves today and as usual, was at the top of his net play with hi volleys. 

The British pair—which teamed up for the first time on ATP Tour in Eastbourne in 2018— ruffled the Indian duo’s feathers in the game seven when they forced the game into the deciding point, but failed to break first in the match. 

Bopanna and Sharan, however, did not fail to capitalize on their opportunity as they broke O’Mara in game eight to take a 5-3 lead. This proved to be the decisive moment of the match as Bopanna sealed the opening set—with his serves— 6-3 in just 29 minutes.

Just like the first set, both the pairs held their serves in the first four games. Moreover, these games also witnessed Bopanna dart back and successfully return lobs and Sharan scoring off an ace, something that hadn’t been seen often thus far. 

At 2-2, Bopanna and Sharan squandered a breakpoint, but managed to grab it in the deciding point to make it 3-2 and take the lead for the first time in the set. 

Playing in his 44th ATP Tour doubles final, Bopanna used his experience of keeping his composure on big occasions and held the sixth game to love to extend the pair’s lead to two games. 

The advantage rose to three in the subsequent game when Bopanna and Sharan chipped in with some near perfect passing winners to bag their second break point of the match and make it 5-2. 

Serving for the match, Sharan was unable to close the contest as the British pair broke his serve to reduce the deficit to two games. Bambridge held to love till 40 and closed the game with an ace to make it a one-game set. 

Once again, the onus was on the 2017 finalist, Rohan Bopanna, to deliver the goods. And he did just what the doctor ordered as his ferocious serves helped the duo seal the championship 6-3, 6-4 in a little over one hour. 

This defeat was the pair’s first ATP Tour finals loss after being crowned champions in Eastbourne and Stockholm last year. On the other hand, both Bopanna and Sharan clinched their first title since their victories in Vienna and Antwerp respectively in 2017. 

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Shivansh Gupta