The Indo Pak Express derailed in the semi-final of the Estoril Open
Top seeds, Indian Rohan Bopanna and Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi lost to third seeded pair of American Eric Butorac and Curacao Jean-Julien Rojer in straight sets on Friday. Butorac and Rojear registered a 6-2, 6-4 win to advance into the final of the 2011 Estadio Nacionale.
Ranked 6th in the ATP World Tour Men’s doubles rankings; Qureshi and Bopanna are in great form this season. They made semi-final berth at Sydney and Monte Carlo before reaching semis at this event as well. However they exited again from this spot despite having a great start in the tournament. They overpowered Americans, Scott Lipsky and Travis Rettenmaier in straight sets in the first round. The Indo Pak tandem then received a walkover victory in the quarter-finals to reach this spot.
American – Curacao on the other side of net had a 16-11 win – loss record so far. The fourth ranked pair reached far ion many tournaments they entered and entered confidently in this event. They triumphed over Portuguese duo in straight sets in the first round and then dumped Uruguayan – Romanian team of Pablo Cuevas and Victor Hanescu in straight sets again.
Both teams met each other recently at Indian Wells where Butorac and Rojer were victorious and they extended their lead in the head-to-head series by 3-0.
In the opening set, the American Curacao duo held their opening serve convincingly and produced a higher first serve share of 73 percent as compared to Indo – Pak team’s 58 percent. They also registered an amazing 94 percent win on it and conceded zero breakpoint. Butorac and Rojer held their entire serves with their amazing co-ordination and converted both breakpoint opportunities to their advantage to seal the set by winning six games to their rivals’ two.
They carried their winning ways into the second set and easily held their opening serve. Butorac and Rojer raised their level of game by committing zero double faults and earned an impressive 74 percent win on their higher first serve share. They lost their serve once but broke back twice to take the lead and eventually clinch with a 6-4 score line.
Bopanna and Qureshi on the other hand played poorly in the opening set. However, they lifted up their game in the second set and were able to convert one out three breakpoint opportunities to their advantage. The indo – Pak team also fired five aces and saved eleven out of thirteen breakpoints faced but it wasn’t enough to bounce back. They eventually crashed out from tournament.
Up next for the winning combination of American Curacao pair is the fourth seeded Spaniards, Marc Lopez and David Marrero. The Spanish seeds downed Argentinean – Spanish pair of Carlos Berlocq and Pere Riba in straight sets to reach this final spot.
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