Indo-Pak Express sail past Benneteau/Mahut to lift 1st ATP 1000 title – BNP Paribas Masters 2011
Seventh seeded Indo Pak Express, consisting of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, got the spotlight after dumping local wild card enterers, Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut, in straight sets at the BNP Paribas Masters 2011.
They registered a 6-2, 6-4 win over the Frenchmen in this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event to grab their biggest title on Sunday.
The Indo Pak tandem took almost an hour to trash Benneteau and Mahut on their first face-to-face. After earning this victory, they not only jumped to world number five in the ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings but also triumph their
third year-to-date title.
The high spirited Indian Pakistani team went berserk after the French pair held their serve in the opening game. With their perfect co-ordination, they reeled off five games in a row before their opponents could hold on again.
Bopanna and Qureshi then held their serve for once last time in the eighth game to clinch the set with a 6-2 victory.
They slide in entire serves without facing any breakpoint and cashed in half of the four breakpoint opportunities to their advantage. The Indo Pak collaboration formulated a poor first serve share of 48 percent as compared to the
Frenchmen’s 75 percent but they registered a perfect win on it.
The seeded team kept momentum sailing into the final set and held their entire serves comfortably without facing any breakpoint. In addition to this, they capitalised on the only breakpoint opportunity to their advantage in the
ninth game and sealed the set by winning six games to four.
Bopanna and Qureshi manipulated a slightly lower first serve share of 56 percent in contrast with their rivals’ 59 percent and earned a tremendous 86 percent win on it.
"This win gives us a lot of confidence, it is our biggest title by far," said Bopanna. "All the hard work over the years has paid off.”
"We are ecstatic to win our first Masters 1000 title," said Qureshi. "Last year we didn't play well in finals and this year we have won three out of three."
"They were stronger than us today and I wish them good luck in London next week," Benneteau praised the winning seeds. "We got a wild card and had a great run, we enjoyed playing in front of a big crowd and having their support."
The winning junction of Qureshi and Bopanna will confidently advance at The O2 in London where the ATP World Tour Finals will take place.
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