South Asian duo begin climb for title in Kremlin Cup
The much acclaimed South Asian duo, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi from Pakistan and Rohan Bopanna from India, has begun its climb for the Moscow title in the Kremlin Cup by defeating the pair of Leos Friedl from the Czech Republic and Victor
Hanescu from Romania. Aisam-Rohan won their first match in the doubles category by 6-3, 3-5, 10-8 making the final set score of 10-8
Ranking at the 6th position in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) doubles team ranking, the pair made it into the spotlight earlier this year when they reached the men’s doubles final in the US open. Even
though they lost to the twin brothers, Robert Charles Bryan and Michael Carl Bryan by 14-12, the South Asian pair received much fame for their brilliant performance.
The pair has advanced to the quarterfinals where they will face Janko Tipsarevic (one half of the defending champions) and Victor Troicki from Serbia. The upcoming match might prove to be a challenging one for Aisam-Rohan since
Tipsarevic-Troicki practically sailed into the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 7-6 score against the Serbian–Croatian pair, Dusan Vemic and Lovro Zovko.
Their match against the team of Leos and Victor was not an easy win either. In fact the score of 1-5 in the second set at one point was much proof of what seemed to be a declining performance. However, they managed to salvage some
of the set even though their service was broken twice, and ultimately lost the set at a score of 3-6.
The final set of the game went into a tie breaker where Aisam and Rohan finally bounced back and won with a score of 10-8.
As the duo moves up the ladder, they will have to be extra cautious and improve their coordination so as to not repeat the abysmal performance that was experienced today in the second set of their first doubles team match. Ever
since their first pair up at the Manchester Trophy in 2003, the pair has given excellent performances on several occasions and have managed to bag a few titles along the way.
Had the cards fell into place and the fates willed it, the pair would have found themselves against one half of the defending champions, Mikhail Youzhny in the first semi final. Defeating the Russian legend would have added to
their growing success. For South Asian tennis fans, a final between Aisam–Rohan and the team of Mikhail Youzhny from Russia and Sergiy Stakhovsky from Ukraine would have been an edge of the seat match. However, the team of Mikhail and Sergiy was beaten in
their qualifying match.
As the last of the qualifying matches for the quarter final finished today, predictions can be made now as to which pair will win the title. If the well oiled pair of Aisam and Rohan shows much promise and if “silly errors and
mistakes” are avoided they may move on to win the Moscow title this year.
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