The Indo - Pak Express advances to quarters at the Estoril Open
Top seeds, Indian Rohan Bopanna and Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi downed the American pair of Scott Lipsky and Travis Rettenmaier in straight sets on Tuesday. They registered a 7-6(1), 6-4 win over the Americans to advance into
the quarter-finals of the Men’s Doubles Estoril Open held in Oeiras, Portugal.
The Indo Pak pair is currently at their career high ranks; Qureshi is at number eleven while Bopanna is right behind him at number twelve. They are in their top form this season so far and made a semi-final berth at Sydney and
Monte Carlo. They reached far in other tournaments as well and entered in full confidence at Estoril Court Central.
The American pair on the other hand is in great form as well. Lipsky came here from back to back titles; he clinched the title at Barcelona last week with Santiago Gonzalez and won the Athens hard court challenger title with Collin
Fleming.
Bopanna and Qureshi displayed awe-inspiring skills to triumph over the American duo in eighty minutes. In the opening set, the Indian Pakistan tandem produced a higher first serve share of 59 percent as compared to the Americans’
53 percent and registered an impressive 85 percent win on it. They saved all three breakpoints faced and smacked five aces. Despite their amazing performance in the set, they couldn’t find any breakpoint opportunity and took the set to tiebreaker where the
clearly prevailed to clinch the set with a 7-6(1) win.
The seeds kept momentum rolling into the second set and held their opening serves plausibly. Later they hold on to their entire serves with their awesome co-ordination and converted the only breakpoint opportunity founded to their
advantage to seal the set with a 6-4 victory. Bopanna and Qureshi had a slightly lower first serve share of 62 percent as opposed to Lipsky and Rettenmaier’s 64 percent and earned an awesome 94 percent win on it. They also saved all three breakpoints with
their amazing forehands and agility.
The Indo Pak Express will next face the Spanish Duo, Pablo Andujar and Daniel Gimeno-Traver. The Spaniards reached this spot after dumping Swiss – French pair of Yves Allegro and Gilles Simon in straight sets on Monday.
Andujar and Traver saved all four breakpoints and converted three out of eleven breakpoint opportunities to their advantage to seal the match with a 6-3, 6-3 victory. They produced a higher first serve share of 69 percent as compared
to their rivals’ 59 percent and registered an assuring 77 percent win on it. The Spaniards also hammered three aces and clobbered zero double faults as opposed to Allegro and Simon’s five.
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