Indo Pak Express upsets the defending champions, the Chennai Express
The Indo Pak Express, Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi upset the third seeded Chennai Express, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes in straight sets to advance to the quarter-finals of 2011 BNP Paribas Open Men Doubles on Tuesday.
The in-form Chennai Express made a great start in this tournament and dumped the Swede Austrian pair of Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle pair in straight sets in the first round. On the other side of net, the Indo Pak Express consisting
of the Indian Bopana and Pakistani Qureshi also cruised to this round. They overpowered a American – Curacao pair consisting of Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Roger in straight sets as well.
In the opening set, the Indo Pak Express showed their awesomeness and outplayed the higher ranked Bhupathi-Paes pair. The Indians committed less double fault and had a higher first serve percentage of 67 percent as opposed to Qureshi-Bopanna’s
50 percent but they managed to convert one out of five opportunities to their advantage. While the Indo Pak Express fired three aces and registered an impressive 73 percent win on their first serve. They also broke Chennai Express serve twice to clinch the
set 6-3.
Qureshi and Bopana perfected their co-ordination in the final set as they hammered five ferocious aces and hammered cannon net points. They displayed their best tennis in this set as they saved ten break points and earned an amazing
83 percent win on their higher first serves. With a single break of serve, the Indo-Pak pair won the set 6-4 plausibly.
They will next face Serbian pair consisting of the world number 3 Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki. They reached this spot after upsetting 7th seeded pair, Polish Lukasz Kubot and Austrian Oliver Marach in three sets.
Another seed upset was witnessed during the day. First time pairing, Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov and Belgian Xavier Malisse, defeated the top seeded Bryan brothers.
Bob and Mike Bryan had a higher first serve percentage in the match but they committed more double faults and managed to convert only two out of seven breakpoint opportunities to their advantage. The Ukrainian Belgian pair on the
other hand registered a higher return points winning percentage and broke Bryan Brothers serve three times to win 7-5, (9)6-7, 10-7.
The American brothers played poorly and showed poor co-ordination amongst each other. This is their second early exit since winning the Australian Open crown.
Dolgopolov - Malisse will next face the British brothers, Andy Murray and Jamie Murray. The Murray brothers came to this spot after rallying past against the American pair, John Isner and Sam Querrey in three sets.
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