Indo-Pak express suffer upset defeat in Chennai Open
The doubles pair of Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and India’s Rohan Boppana – nicknamed the Indo-Pak express - suffered an upset defeat in the quarter-final of the Chennai Open being played in India. The pair was defeated in two sets 6-4, 7-5.
The Indo-Pak express were favourites to win the tournament, since they were seeded second in the tournament. They won the first round match but were unable to conquer their opponents in the quarter-final. The players were up against the pair of the American
David Martin and the young Dutch player Robin Haase. Both these players were unseeded for the tournament and their overall doubles ranking was above 100.
The match started with Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi dominant for the majority of the time. They played just one bad service game, which cost them the first set of the match. The unseeded pair of Haase and Martin managed to break the serve of Bopanna. The
US and Dutch pair were then able to hold on to their services, and the break they got was enough to win the first set 6-4. Bopanna and Qureshi were however, expected to bounce back from that setback as they have done many times before in their career.
The start to the second set wasn’t a good one for the Indo-Pak express, as the pair was yet again unable to hold on to their serve. This time it was Qureshi’s service which was broken. This seemed to charge the Indian and Pakistani duo, as they came back
hard against their opponents. When the Indo-Pak pair got their opportunity, they grabbed it with both hands and broke the service of Martin.
The match was evenly poised but Qureshi and Bopanna were looking like the dominant team, as they countered their opponents at every stage. However, Qureshi was unable to hold onto his serve again in the second set, which gave their opponents an opportunity
to close out the match. The two breaks proved to be too much for the number two seeds, and they were unable to bounce back in the match from then onwards. Martin’s serve appeared to be the weaker of the unseeded duo, but it was Haase who served for the match.
The 23-year-old player showed some strong nerves, as he played a very good service game to win the set 7-5, which eventually resulting in an upset defeat to the Indo-Pak express.
This was the first time the Indo-Pak express took to the court in 2011, and despite getting off to a disappointing start, they will be looking forward to a successful season ahead.
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