Matt Ebden and Indian partner Rohan Bopanna will contest the men’s doubles final at Australian Open 2024.
The second seeds edged out Czech Tomas Machac and China’s Zhang Zhizhen in today’s semifinals at Rod Laver Arena, recording a hard-fought 6-3 3-6 7-6(7) victory.
DRAW: Australian Open 2024 men's doubles
World No.4 Ebden and world No.3 Bopanna led 5-2 in the deciding set and had three match points in the ninth game, but the fearless Machac and Zhang refused to give in.
But after two hours on court, Ebden and Bopanna managed to close out victory in a high-pressure match tiebreak.
This propels them into their second consecutive Grand Slam final as a team.
“There were a lot of close points there, especially in the second and third sets. And I mean, what an epic third set," Ebden said.
"I’ve got to hand it to my partner, we’ve been fighting since round one. There’s been a lot of tough moments, fighting through one by one in front of our home crowd and we couldn’t be happier.”
It marks the sixth time in the past eight years that an Aussie player has progressed to the Australian Open men’s doubles final.
The 36-year-old Ebden also joins exclusive company as only the fifth Aussie to advance to multiple men’s doubles finals in Melbourne Park’s 36-year history.
AUSSIE MEN APPEARING IN MULTIPLE MEN'S DOUBLES FINALS
(Since Australian Open 1988)
It is Ebden’s fourth Grand Slam men’s doubles final appearance in total, having previously contested championship matches at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2022 (with Max Purcell) and last year’s US Open (with Bopanna).
Bopanna, who is through to his third men’s doubles final at Grand Slam level, is aiming to win his first major title. If he does so, he’ll become the oldest man to win a Grand Slam doubles title in history.
DOUBLES WRAP: Hsieh, Bopanna, Bolelli getting better with age
The enduring 43-year-old’s Australian Open performance means he is already guaranteed to make some history, as he will rise to the top of the ATP Tour doubles ranking next week and become the oldest first-time world No.1.
Ebden and Bopanna will face the Italian combination of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the final, played on Saturday evening following the women’s singles final.
Hunter eliminiated in women's doubles semis
Storm Hunter, meanwhile, came tantalising close to securing a first Australian Open finals appearance, with Czech partner Katerina Siniakova before falling to Hsieh Su-Wei and Elise Mertens in a thrilling women’s doubles semifinal.
Hsieh and Mertens, the No.2 seeds, required two hours and 35 minutes to secure the 7-5 1-6 6-3 victory over the third-seeded Hunter and Siniakova.
It was a match of early momentum swings at Margaret Court Arena, with Hunter and Siniakova racing to a 4-0 lead only to drop the next four games and with it, the 59-minute first set.
The Australian-Czech duo recovered to send the contest into a deciding third set, where the turning point of a superb-quality battle came as Siniakova dropped serve in the penultimate game.
Helped by trademark shot-making from Hsieh, Mertens held serve to secure victory.