Indo-Pak Express on a roll
Bopanna-Qureshi storm into quarters with win over Daniel-Schwank
After a terrible Tuesday, when none of the three Indians in the fray could make it beyond the first round in singles, the fans at the Nungabakkam stadium found their voice and feet as the Indo-Pak Express produced an entertaining fare here at the Centre Court on a pleasant Wednesday.
Rohan Bopanna was the only home player to give some fight during his loss to his fancied opponent Stanislas Wawrinka on Tuesday. And on this day, with his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in tow, the Bangalorean took his game a notch up to help the Indo-Pak pair make a winning start to its doubles campaign in the $4,50,000 Aircel Chennai Open.
In a close to an hour and 20-minute battle, Bopanna-Qureshi put it past Brazil-Argentine duo of Marcos Daniel and Eduardo Schwank 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) to storm into the second round. Seeded second here, the US Open finalists, if things go as desired, will be meeting top seeds and veteran Indian combination of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in what promises to be a dream final.
Egged on by a gathered few hundreds, Bopanna-Qureshi got off to a fine start with the former comfortably holding his serve. The next two games went on serves before the crowd favourites earned their decisive break.
Trailing 15-40 on Daniel’s serve, the South American pair did well to stave off two break points to take the game to deuce, but Bopanna’s backhand return, which ballooned off his racquet’s rim to beat past Daniel, handed the break to Indo-Pak duo.
Daniel-Schwank had a golden opportunity to even out the scores when they went two break points up on Qureshi’s serve in the next game but the Pakistani came up with some wonderful serves while Bopanna produced some brilliant stuff at the net to deny their rivals not only the lone chance of a comeback but opened up a big 4-1 lead. “Given the points system in doubles (there is no advantage), it’s very easy for teams to stage a comeback,” noted Bopanna later referring to the saved game. “But I must say, Aisam came up with some good serves at that stage to win the game,” he added.
The games then went on serves and Bopanna-Qureshi notched up the opening set in just 28 minutes of play in which they laughed and joked around. “Can’t be really too serious on court,” noted Bopanna.
“You have to keep it a bit relaxed which helps you a bit. I think you play better when you are more relaxed,” he reasoned.
With Qureshi looking somewhat off-colour, Bopanna was left to do all the running in the opener.
“It feels really great and definitely happy to get it (first match of the season) out of the way,” remarked Qureshi while acknowledging his partner’s job. “I was a bit nervous and felt a little bit rusty. But Rohan took me along... Hopefully the second match will be much better tomorrow.” They are up against US-Holland pair of David Martin and Robin Haase next.
Overhead smash
It was tight second set, though Bopanna-Qureshi were marginally better than their rivals. Daniel and Schwank had a chance to go 2-0 up on Bopanna’s serve after holding the opening game but the Kodava came up with an overhead smash to stay on even terms. It was the turn of Indo-Pak duo to break the game in the 11th game on Daniel’s serve.
Trailing 0-40, Daniel-Schwank did exceedingly well to take the game to deuce and saved it when Bopanna hit his backhand wide as the set was pushed to tie-breaker.
Earning mini-breaks in the first and the eighth games, Bopanna-Qureshi bagged the set and the match.
Results: Doubles (1st round): Rohan Bopanna (Ind)/ Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3); Sanchai Ratiwatana/ Sonchat Ratiwatana (Tha) bt Colin Fleming/ Ross Hutchins (Bri) 7-6 (9-7), 6-1; Scott Lipsky/ Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Dustin Brown (Ger)/ Rogier Wassen (Ned) 6-1, 6-2.
