Rohan Bopanna might have been one of India's best doubles players, but he was still searching for his maiden win in a grand slam event. The search came to an end with the French Open mixed doubles title as Bopanna, who was paired alongside his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski, won the competition at Philippe-Chatrier Court on Thursday.
The Indo-Canadian pair defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Robert Farah in the final, 2-6, 6-2, 12-10. Bopanna and Dabrowski might not have started as they would have liked, losing the first set quite easily, but things improved only in the second set.
There was a serious need for Bopanna and his partner to take their game to the next level to win the title. And boy, they looked a stunning team in the second set and came out on top to take the match to a tie-break.
When it comes to such tie-break, experience comes in handy and Bopanna made good use of all his experience, and win it after some good fight in the closing stages as well.
Though Bopanna has been involved in the doubles contest for a long time, tennis fans might have been quite surprised that this is his first doubles title. The closest Bopanna came to winning a grand slam event was in 2010 US Open, where he lost in the doubles competition.
With this win, Bopanna has joined the elusive list of Indian tennis players to have won a grand slam title. He is the fourth Indian to do so after Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza.
