Asian Games 2018: Bopanna-Sharan clinch gold in men's doubles tennis

Asian Games 2018: With this victory, India's medals tally has now reached to 22, including 6 gold medals, 4 silver and 12 bronze

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Indian tennis duo – Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan – clinched the gold medal in men’s doubles event in the ongoing Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang. They defeated Kazakhstan's Aleksandr Bublik and Denis Yevseyev 6-3, 6-4 to scoop the top prize in the event. With this victory, India's medals tally has now reached to 22, including 6 gold medals, 4 silver and 12 bronze. Bopanna was particularly formidable from the baseline, displaying a good range of strokes to pull off some tough winners, helped by his brute power. Less than 20 minutes into the match, the Indians were 4-1 ahead, breaking Bublik and Yevseyev at the very first opportunity they got. In no time, the top seeds were serving for the set with a 5-3 lead and Bopanna's booming serves wrapped it up in style for them. The second set went slightly better for Bublik and Yevseyev but they just could not rein in the unforced errors, including a double fault in the fifth game which could have cost them. They had the faster legs between the two pairs but the Indians had the experience to negate that. At 3-3, Bopanna and Sharan clinched the all-important break to go up and though they were pushed a bit in the very next game, the top seeds held serve to grab a 5-3 lead. Serving for the match at 40-0, Bopanna didn't really come up with the booming serve but the Kazakhs had been deflated enough and a feeble return went into the nets to give India the first tennis gold of the ongoing event. India have claimed the men's doubles gold on four occasions at the Games, the last pair being Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh in the 2010 Guangzhou edition. Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes remain the most successful Indian men's doubles pair in the Asian Games history, having claimed back-to-back gold medals in the 2002 and 2006 Games. In 2014, Saketh Myneni and Sanam had ended with a silver medal.