Asian Games 2023: Rohan Bopanna, Ruturaj Bhosale clinch tennis mixed doubles gold

Indian tennis contingent has won a total of two medals at the ongoing Continental meet.

The final match between the mixed doubles pair Rohan Bopanna/Rutuja Bhosale and Liang/Huang at the Asian Games 2023 went down to the wire. Eventually, the Indian duo emerged victorious with their innate ability to win points at utmost crunch moments in the finals. Bopanna/Bhosale defeated the Chinese Taipei pair 2-6, 6-3,10-4 and in the process clinched the 9th gold medal for India at the Asian Games 2023.

The first set opening game was won by India on the Bopanna's serve and from there everything went downhill. The Chinese Taipei pair managed to break serves twice in four instances and managed to hold on to their serves throughout the 1st set which eventually got them to win the 1st set.

Opponents showed some good court coordination as Liang scored a couple of points from the net and Huang supported well from the baseline. Rutuja certainly felt some nervy moments and Bopanna tried his best to cover the deficit of his partner but was not enough, and lost 2-6 in the opener.

The 2nd set was evenly poised as both pairs were reluctant to let go of their serve games and managed to hold on to their service games till game 7. Game 8 was the critical juncture where the Indian duo got ahead and finally managed to break the game and hold the serve on the successive game to win the set 6-3.

Second set saw a great comeback from Rutuja as she finally decided to get up and running. The Indian singles No. 2 was suddenly scoring some brilliant net points and even had a blistering backhand winner in the critical break in game 8 which was the best stroke from her in the match. Experienced Bopanna showed his wealth of experience and supported Rutuja well and exploded with points, tactical brilliance, and powerful serves when it mattered the most.

Asian Games 2023 adopted the superset tie-break system instead of the usual third deciding set. The Indian duo carried their momentum from the 2nd set into a super set tiebreak and gave no chance to the Chinese Taipei duo to make a comeback. Bopanna and Rutuja held their nerve in the tie-break set and brought a few tricks up their bags.

The tie-break set saw some powerful first serves that got the Indian duo progress. Rutuja carried her form into the tiebreak game and at the crunch moments contributed well with a couple of points with good maneuvers at the net area. Finally, the Indian duo thrashed the opponents convincingly with a score line of 10-4 in the tiebreak.