15 October 2023 | Tennis West

Australia’s Matt Ebden and India’s Rohan Bopanna secured their place at the season-ending championships with a finals appearance in Shanghai.

Australian Matt Ebden and Indian partner Rohan Bopanna have finished runners-up in the 2023 Shanghai Masters doubles competition.

Spain’s Marcel Granollers and Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos spoiled Ebden and Bopanna’s quest to win a second ATP Masters 1000 title of the season, edging out a 5-7 6-2 [10-7] in today’s final.

Only one point separated the two teams in the 82-minute championship match, with world No.13 Zeballos and world No.14 Granollers winning 59 points to Ebden and Bopanna’s 58.

“It’s great to play the final,” Ebden said. “It wasn’t to be today … (Zeballos and Granollers) are a good team, hopefully we’ll get them next time.”

Despite the loss, Ebden and Bopanna have secured their place at the ATP Finals in Turin next month.

It will be Ebden’s debut at the prestigious season-ending championships, which is reserved for the year’s top-eight performing teams.

Since teaming up for the first time in January, 35-year-old Ebden and 43-year-old Bopanna have won two titles from five finals appearances. This includes a runner-up finish at last month’s US Open.

“It took, you know, a few tournaments to get going, but I think the biggest key was having trust in each other’s game and slowly building from that,” Bopanna said.

Ebden and Bopanna’s immediate attention now turns to an ATP 500 tournament in Tokyo next week, where they are the top seeds.