The Indo Pak Express advances to quarters at Sony Ericsson Open
Indian Rohan Bopanna and Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi rallied past the Slovakian Belgian pair of Michal Mertinak and d**k Norman by 7-6(4), 3-6, 8-10 on Monday. They have advanced to the quarter-finals at Crandon Park in Miami.
The winning combination of Bopanna and Qureshi are in their top form this season as they recently reached the semi-finals at Indian Wells before losing to eventual champions Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov and Belgian Xavier Malisse.
In this tournament, the seventh seeded Indo Pak pair triumphed over the German – American pair of Philipp Kohlshreiber and Rajeev Ram in the first round. They warded off late resistance in the second set tiebreaker from the German American pair to reach this
spot.
The Indo Pakistani pair displayed their awe-inspiring performance in the opening set and were in their top form. They clearly outclassed their rivals as they smacked four aces, committed only a single double fault and found six
breakpoint opportunities of which they converted one to their advantage. Though they played exceptionally well Bopanna and Qureshi failed to save the only breakpoint and took the set to tiebreaker. They finally prevailed in it and clinched the set with a 7-6(4)
win.
Mertinak and Norman on the other side of net played poorly and double faulted four times. They also had a lower first serve share of 51 percent as compared to Indo Pak pair’s 59 percent. However they saved five breakpoints and
earned an acceptable 77 percent win on their first serve.
The unseeded Slovakian Belgian pair re-formed in the second set improved their co-ordination. They still had a lower first serve share of 52 percent as opposed to Bopanna – Qureshi’s 65 percent, but they registered an impressive
92 percent win on it. Mertinak and Norman committed less double faults, hammered four aces and converted one out of two breakpoint opportunities to win the equalizer set with a 6-3 score line.
Bopanna and Qureshi were down 3-6 in the super tiebreaker. They re-focused and re-formed after that and turned the tables around as they won the next six points in a row and took the score to 9-6. They eventually won the set with
a 10-8 score line.
Bopanna and Qureshi will next face the in-form Austrian Serbian pair of Oliver Marach and Janko Tipsarevic who upset the top seeded Bryan Brothers in straight sets to reach this spot.
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