Pune, Feb 5 (UNI) Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan continued their brilliant run at the Tata Open Maharashtra, storming into men’s doubles final after a thrilling win over Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul at the Balewadi Stadium here on Saturday. The star Indian duo outclassed the French pair, making a sensational comeback in the tie-breaker to wrap up the match 4-6, 6-4, 12-10. The No. 2 seed Bopanna-Ramkumar will now take on top-seeded Australian duo of Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith in the final on February 6. In the men’s singles semi-final, Portuguese star Joao Sousa ended Swedish Elias Ymer’s sensational run at the tournament with a remarkable three-set win. Sousa fought back from a set down to win the nail-biting semi-final 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 against Ymer. The Portuguese will take on sixth-seeded Emil Ruusuvuori in the summit clash on February 6. Ymer, who stunned top-seed and the World No. 15 Aslan Karatsev in the earlier round to earn the biggest win of his career, made a confident start to race to a 4-1 lead but Sousa recovered well in time to draw level at 5-5. Ymer regrouped and pocketed the set to take 1-0 lead in the match. Regarded as the best Portuguese player of all time, the former World No. 28, capitalised on the momentum gained towards the end of the opening set and led 4-1 in the second set. Sousa took away the set 7-4 in the tie-breaker. The 32-year-old experienced campaigner put pressure on Ymer, who was in search for his first ATP title, giving him a neck-and-neck fight in the decider and successfully titled the momentum in his favour in a gruelling contest that lasted for more than three hours. Emil Ruusuvuori held his nerve during the crucial second set tie-breaker to secure a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6 (7-0) victory against Kamil Majchrzak and seal his berth in the final.
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