New Delhi: Rohan Bopanna will keep the Indian flag flying in the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London which starts on November 15.
The 35-year-old and his doubles partner Florin Mergea of Romania became the eighth and final team to qualify for the prestigious tournament.
The Indo-Romanian pair benefited from the Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo pair's victory over Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in the Paris Masters final. Pospisil-Sock were in contention for the final spot, but the 6-2 3-6 5-10 defeat to second seeds ended their bid.
Dodig-Melo pair had in fact knocked out Bopanna and Mergea in the quarterfinals in Paris, thus complicating their chances to play in the prestigious finale.
Bopanna and Mergea will join the Bryan twins - Bob and Bryan, Jean Julien-Rojer and Horia Tecau, Dodig and Melo, Jamie Murray and John Peers, Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, and Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic at the week long O2 event.
Bopanna first qualified for the season finale in 2011 with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan, then again in 2012 with his Indian compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi. For the 35-year-old Romanian, it's his first ever season finale participation.
In 2015, the Indian-Romanian pair has won Madrid Open and Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, and were finalists at Casablanca and Halle.
Leander Paes was the last Indian player to feature in the season ending tournament. he paired with Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic in 2013, and were seeded seventh.
In 2012, Bopanna and Bhupathi lost the doubles title to Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez. Bhupathi was also a finalist, with Max Mirnyi, in 2009.
