US Open 2024: Rohan Bopanna and Aldila Sutjiadi lose in semifinals

Indian participation at the ongoing US Open ended on Wednesday when Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna and his Indonesian mixed doubles partner Aldila Sutjiadi lost their semifinal match.

The Ind0-Indonesian pair were beaten 3-6, 4-6 by United States of America’s Donald Young and Taylor Townsend at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Donald Young is playing in his last tournament on the tour as he had announced that the US Open will be his last competitive tournament. Young and Townsend are longtime friends and the duo have a chance to win the title at the US Open.

They will meet Italy’s Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori in the final on Thursday. The Italians are seeded third in the mixed doubles category.

Bopanna couldn’t hold his first service game but immediately broke back to restore parity. However, the American pair played on a different level and another break of serve meant Bopanna and Sutjiadi were on the backfoot.

After losing the first set, the Indo-Indonesian pair did well to start the second set but when Young and Townsend broke Bopanna’s service in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead and hold serve in the next game, Bopanna and Sutjiadi wilted under pressure.

Bopanna and Sutjiadi were coming into the match after a hard-fought win over Bopanna’s doubles partner Matthew Ebden of Australia and Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova. Bopanna and Sutjiadi triumphed 7-6(4), 2-6, 10-7 in a gruelling contest that lasted more than 90 minutes.

Bopanna is in the twilight of his career and the 44-year-old has announced that he won’t play in the Davis Cup, representing India, anymore. Bopanna and Ebden won the Australian Open earlier this year and it remains to be seen if the Indo-Australian pair will defend their crown early next year.

At the ongoing US Open, Bopanna and Ebden lost in the third round to Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 1-6, 5-7.

India’s Sumit Nagal lost the men’s singles first round match to Tallon Griekspoor while he couldn’t take part in the men’s doubles due to a back injury. Yuki Bhambri and his French partner Albano Olivetti lost in the round-of-16 to Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, the top seeds while N Sriram Balaji was ousted in the second round in the men’s doubles category and Bopanna’s loss ended India’s participation at the season’s last Grand Slam.