Rohan Bopanna will claim the top ranking in men’s doubles when they are updated at the conclusion of the Australian Open on 28 January. The Indian confirmed himself of a rise to the top spot after moving into the semi-finals of the first major of the year.

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden, the second seeds, defeated sixth seeded Argentinian pairing of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 6-4, 7-6(5) on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals in Melbourne.

The Indo-Aussie pairing will next face Zhizhen Zhang of China and Tomas Machac of Czech Republic for a place in the final.

Both Bopanna and Ebden now have 7170 points as per the live ATP Rankings overtaking America’s Austin Krajicek who is at 7160 points.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were India’s last men’s doubles pairing at the top of the world when they took top spot in 1999. Overall, Sania Mirza was India’s last top-ranked player which she achieved on 13 April, 2015.

The 43-year-old from Coorg has achieved multitude remarkable achievements in the last two years. He had become the oldest man to win an ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells last year. At the 2023 US Open, he became the oldest man to feature in a Grand slam final.