Aisam, Bopanna storm into final

Federer outclasses Berdych in singles semi-final at Paris Masters.

PARIS: Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna turned in a superb performance, entering the final of the doubles event at the ATP Paris Masters after edging out Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor 6-3, 7-6 in their semi-final clash.

The seventh-seed Indo-Pak pair pulled off a giant-killing act, getting the better of the third-seeded Belarusian-Candian combination in one hour and 27 minutes.

The duo had earlier shocked second-seeds Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic 3-6, 6-4, 10-6 in the quarter-finals of the event.

This year, Qureshi and Bopanna won the Gerry Weber Open title, as well as the Stockholm Open.

Federer storms into final

Meanwhile, world number four Roger Federer defeated Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-3 here to reach the singles final of the Paris Masters for the first time in his career.

A break of serve in the first game of each set was all the former world number one needed to see off the challenge of Berdych who had earlier beaten second-seed Andy Murray in a marathon quarter-final on Friday.

A day after chalking up the 800th match win of his career, Federer made a storming start against a player who had given him problems in the past. He immediately had the big Czech on the defensive and clinched a first break of serve when a rasping cross-court forehand forced an error.

The third-seed powered through his own serve and had a break point to go 3-0 up in the next game before Berdych finally started to find his range. Federer, though, was comfortable on his own serve and took the first set 6-4.

Berdych stumbled again at the start of the second set handing Federer two break points by netting an easy-looking overhead smash and then netted a routine forehand from the baseline.

Federer moved 2-0 up and  never looked like being caught from there on in.

Earlier, Berdych had outlasted Murray in a marathon battle to earn a 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 trip into the semi-finals.

“At this stage of the season, and how I’ve been feeling this week, it’s tiring,” said a frustrated Murray. “He dictated what happens, hit a lot of winners. At the end I was just fighting.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2011.