Miami open: In hot pursuit

Miami, March 29

Indian tennis stalwart Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden sailed into the men’s doubles final of the Miami Open with a straight-set win over Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

Bopanna and Ebden, the Australian Open winners, hardly broke a sweat to get the better of Spain’s Granollers and Argentina’s Zeballos 6-1 6-4 in the semifinals on Thursday night.

Bopanna had slipped to second spot in the doubles rankings after the quarterfinal loss at the Dubai Championships and a Round of 32 exit at the Indian Wells Masters but the semifinal win here will help the Indian regain the top spot. Following the Australian Open triumph, the 44-year-old had climbed to the world No. 1 spot in the ATP men’s doubles rankings, becoming the oldest player to do so.

In the final, Bopanna and Ebden will take on Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and USA’s Austin Krajicek, who beat the German duo of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz 6-4 6-7(7) 10-7 in the other semifinal.

Keeping it simple

Carlos Alcaraz’s hopes for a Sunshine Double came undone in spectacular fashion as the top-seeded Spaniard fell 6-2 6-4 to Grigor Dimitrov.

Dimitrov, the Bulgarian 11th seed, won 77 per cent of his first-serve points compared to just 56 per cent for Alcaraz, turned aside four of the five break points he faced and broke the Spaniard four times during the 92-minute encounter. It was a crushing defeat for Alcaraz, who arrived in Miami full of confidence after winning the Indian Wells title 11 days ago but fell three wins shy of becoming the first man to clinch the Sunshine Double since Roger Federer in 2017.

“I came into the match focussed and I think it was extremely clear what I had to do. Sometimes simplicity is genius. It’s very hard to do it,” Dimitrov said after his second victory over world No. 2 Alcaraz in as many meetings.

Rybakina survives test

Fourth seed Elena Rybakina overcame a second-set meltdown to beat Belarusian Victoria Azarenka 6-4 0-6 7-6(2) and secure a return trip to the Miami Open final.

In Saturday’s title clash, Rybakina will face American Danielle Collins, who beat Russian 14th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3 6-2 in the other semifinal. — Agencies