Shanghai Masters: Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden become runner-up in men's doubles final

India's star tennis player Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden lost the Shanghai Masters 2023 men's doubles tennis final at the Qi Zhong Tennis Centre on Sunday. The pair, however, earn a spot at the season-ending ATP Finals 2023, which will take place in Turin, Italy this November.

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Bopanna and Ebden, who reached the US Open Grand Slam final earlier this year, lost 7-6, 2-6 and 7-10 to Spain's Marcel Granollers and Argentina's Horacio Zeballos in the Shanghai Masters final.

Meanwhile, this was Rohan Bopanna's 3rd ATP Masters 1000 final of the year. The Indian tennis player, now 43, had partnered Ebden to win the Indian Wells Masters title in March. The win also made Rohan Bopanna the oldest ATP Masters champion in tennis history. The Indo-Australian pair also made it to the final of the Madrid Masters in May, but lost to Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev in the decider.

Fourth seeds Bopanna and Ebden faced stiff competition from Marcel and Horacio. Both teams were successful in holding their serve in the first set, but in the 12th game, the Indo-Australian pair took the lead by securing a decisive break point. After losing their first set of the Shanghai Masters, seventh seeds Marcel and Horacio responded brilliantly and defeated Bopanna-Ebden in the second set to level the score.

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Marcel-Horacio took the first two points in the tie-breaker, with Bopanna and Ebden having to play catch-up before ultimately progressing in the contest, which lasted just under 90 minutes.

This Shanghai Masters comes on the heels of Bopanna's record-breaking achievements earlier in the tournament, where he became the oldest Masters finalist in history.