The Indo Pak Express advances in the pre quarters at the Sony Ericsson Open
Indian Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani pair Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi dumped the German-American pair of Philipp Kohlschreiber and Rajeev Ram in straight sets on Saturday. They registered a 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over Kohlschreiber and
Ram to advance to the second round of the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open.
The seventh seeded Indo Pakistani pair entered this event confidently after making a semi-final berth at Indian Wells. They lost to eventual champions and the first time paired Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov and Belgian Xavier Malisse.
The winning combination of Quershi and Bopanna displayed tremendous skills in the match and fended off late resistance from the German American pair to advance at Key Biscayne.
The Indo Pak pair completly outclassed their unseeded rivals in the opening set. They smashed six ferocious aces and through their splendid defensive skills, they saved all the six breakpoints. Qureshi and Bopanna had an acceptable
first serve share of 60 percent and earned an impressive 78 percent win on it. Furthermore, they converted one out of five opportunities to their advantage to win the set with a 6-3 score line.
Bopanna and Qureshi carried their winning ways into the second set and held their opening serve spectacularly. Though they committed four double faults, the Indo Pak Express smashed five aces and broke their rival’s serve once.
The German–American pair re-focused in the final set and played in top form. They had an acceptable first serve share of 66 percent as opposed to slightly lower of Indo Pak pair’s 64 percent and registered an exceptional 78 percent
win on it. Kohlschreiber and Ram found seven breakpoint opportunities but could only convert one to their advantage.
The set went to tiebreaker where Bopanna and Qureshi prevailed and finally clinched the set with a 7-6(5) win.
The Indo Pak Express will next face Slovakian–Belgian pair of Michal Mertinak and d**k Norman. Mertinak and Norman advanced in the event after bouncing back against the Spaniards, Guillermo Garcia Lopez and Albert Montanes, prevailing
4-6, 7-6(5), 10-8. The winning pair required no opportunity to break the Spaniards serve.
Another seeded pair advanced to the next round on another court. The 2ndseeded pair consisting of Belarusian Max Mirnyi and Canadian Daniel Nestor made an epic comeback from being set down to beat the Spanish pair of
Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco with a (4)6-7, 6-4, 10-7 score line.
Mirnyi and Nestor converted two out of five breakpoint opportunities to their advantage to overcome the Spaniards.
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