Bopanna/Ebden cut through tie-break tension for QF spot

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden passed a hefty test in their bid for a first major crown as a team on Monday at the Australian Open.

The second-seeded pair overcame Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic 7-6(8), 7-6(4) to book a quarter-final spot at the hard-court Grand Slam. Bopanna and Ebden, the No. 3 and No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings, respectively, powered 31 winners, including five aces en route to a one-hour, 43-minute triumph.

India’s Bopanna and Australia’s Ebden reached the final at last year’s US Open but had not won a match as a pair at the Australian Open prior to this year. Their next test at Melbourne Park is a quarter-final clash with sixth seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos were unable to join Bopanna and Ebden in the last eight. Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer upset the fourth seeds 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-4 to book a meeting with Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski, who downed Lloyd Glasspool and Jean-Julien Rojer 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(10-3).

The quarter-final lineup was completed by Ariel Behar and Adam Pavlasek. The Uruguayan-Czech team upset fifth seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Neal Skupski 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 to advance to face Tomas Machac and Zhang Zhizhen.