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Indian tennis veteran Yuki Bhambri is set to be crowned the country's top doubles player following a win over Rohan Bopanna at the Miami Open in Florida on Sunday.
The 32-year-old Bhambri will get the number one crown following the release of Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) doubles rankings at the conclusion of Miami Open end, as per Olympics.com. Bhambri and his Portugal partner Nuno Borges defeated Bopanna and Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 in the round of 32 match. The Indo-Portugal pair will be facing Czechia's Adam Pavlasek and the United Kingdom's Jamie Murray in the round of 16 phase. The victory on Sunday saw Yuki move up to number 29 in the live ATP doubles rankings while Bopanna slid down to 43. A two-time Grand Slam champion and winner of 26 tour-level titles, Bopanna was the defending champion at the Miami Open, having secured the title with Matthew Ebden last year. The 45-year-old Bopanna had been India's number-one doubles player since October 2019, with Bhambri bringing the 286-week reign to an end. Bhambri has been in a rich vein of form, having secured his first-ever ATP 500 title earlier this month at Dubai Tennis Championships 2025 alongside Alexei Popyrin of Australia. Bhambri and Popyrin had registered a come-from-behind win, beating Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten, the reigning US Open and Australian Open doubles tennis champions, 3-6, 7-6(12), 10-8 in the final. Bhambri and Ivan also knocked out top-seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic from the Qatar Open last month. Bhambri, the 2009 Australian Open junior boys champion, was once the singles number one for India as well. He broke into the top 100 of men's singles twice, with his best ranking being 83 in April 2018 before deciding to prioritise doubles in 2023. Apart from his recent Dubai Tennis Championships success, Bhambri has secured three ATP titles at the 250 level. (ANI)
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