Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi fall in the first round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Indo Pak Express Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi were derailed by unseeded Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah of Colombia in a marathon match, losing 6-2, 2-6, 19-21 in the opening round of Wimbledon Championships at
the All England Club in London on Thursday.
Both teams held their serve in the first four games of the opening set, taking the score to 2-2. Bopanna and Qureshi broke the Colombians in the fifth game and consolidated on it to take a 4-2 lead. Serving at 2-4, Cabal and Farah
were broken again to trail 2-5. The Indo-Pak Express served out the set in the next game, capturing it 6-2.
After losing a one-sided first set, the Colombians came roaring in the second set as they broke Qureshi and Bopanna in the opening game and held their next service game to blaze forward to a 2-0 lead. The Indo-Pak Express and their
opponents held their serve in the next four games to take the score to 4-2 in favour of the Colombians.
Bopanna and Qureshi saved a couple of break points in the fifth game but they failed to do the same in the seventh game when they were broken for the second time to trail 2-5. The Indo-Pak Express received two break points in the
eighth game but could not capitalise on them, losing the game and second set 2-6.
In the third set, both pairs held their serve in the first twelve games to square off the score at 6-6. As it was a deciding set, no tie-break rule was applied. Bopanna/Qureshi and the Colombians kept on holding their serve with
ease until the 22nd game when Cabal and Farah faced two match points at 15-40. The Colombians saved these two match points and another two match points later in the same game to level the score at 11-11. In the 29th game, Bopanna and
Qureshi saved three match points to take the score to 15-14.
The Indo-Pak Express failed to capitalise on another match point in the next game and levelled the score at 15-15. Both duos comfortably held their serve in the next eight games to square off the score at 19-19. Finally, it was
Cabal and Farah who made the breakthrough in the 39th game and consolidated on it to win the marathon set 21-19.
The Colombians are drawn to face Kazakh/American team of Mikhail Kukushkin and Michael Russell in the second round.
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