Bopanna-Ramkumar win doubles at Tata Open; Joao Souza wins singles crown

Rohan Bopanna, 41, flashes a smile while explaining his growing friendship with Ramkumar Ramanathan, a Chennai player 14 years younger to him. “Ram enjoys being with me because I speak some broken Tamil,” says the doubles ace from Bengaluru.

Connecting over broken Tamil off the court, Bopanna and Ramkumar are stringing together a hot run as a doubles pair on it.

The Indians lifted their second ATP 250 doubtles title on the trot, winning the Tata Open Maharashtra trophy to add to the Adelaide International title from four weeks ago. As a doubles combination, they have a sweet 9-0 win-loss record this season, the ninth victory coming against Australian top seeds Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith 6-7(10), 6-3, 10-6 in the final in Pune on Sunday.

Bopanna had to wait a couple of years for his 20th ATP title. And now he has quickly moved to No 21. This was his third victory playing in India’s sole ATP event with a different partner, after 2019 Pune (with Divij Sharan) and 2017 Chennai (Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan). Ramkumar has put his hands around a second ATP trophy in as many months, both with the compatriot he watched script an inspiring Davis Cup victory against Brazil in Chennai back in 2010, a year after a teenaged Ramkumar had turned pro.

“He (Bopanna) is someone I look up to,” said Ramkumar, who is set to break into the top-100 in doubles in the latest ATP rankings. “I feel OK to say anything to him and share anything with him.”

They got together this year by chance. Ramkumar flew to Adelaide for the singles qualifiers and at the last moment signed up to play doubles with Bopanna. A surprise run ended with them beating the top seeds in the final. On the back of an unexpected triumph, the Indian duo entered the home tournament as second seeds high on local hope—a wholly different setting to Adelaide.

“People expected us to do well here, especially after the Adelaide win; like just come out and win another title automatically,” Bopanna said.

They did exactly that, but not quite as easily. The Indians staved off match points in the semi-finals, and, with the top seeds stealing the first set of the title clash in a long tie-breaker after a serving masterclass from both pairs, Bopanna and Ramkumar were up against it in front of a limited yet vocal crowd.

At the changeover, Bopanna suggested they switch sides—he went to the ad court, Ramkumar to the deuce. “We had to throw it out there and take these chances,” Bopanna said. The tactic worked. Hitting a higher quality of returns for the Aussies to deal with, the Indians earned the crucial break in the third game of the second set to swing the momentum, with which they sailed in the super tiebreaker.

Sousa wins title after four years

As one Indian veteran left the Centre Court with a title, another Portuguese took over. Joao Sousa won his fourth ATP singles title at 32, after a gap of four years. The world No 137 upset sixth seed Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, 10 years younger and 50 spots above in the rankings, 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-1 to win the singles crown.

Sousa, who began his professional career in 2008 and reached a career-high world No 28 in 2016, saw his rankings crash to below 150 after a troublesome foot injury two years ago and struggle to find his top level again. “We had a few tough moments in the last two years, and to get the title today is a dream come true,” Sousa said in an on-court interview. “If anyone had asked me six months ago if I would be in a final, I would have said no.”