Aisam-Bopanna sail into final round

Duo defeats Rosol-Sousa in straight sets at Sydney International.

KARACHI:

Aisamul Haq Qureshi and India’s Rohan Bopanna will play their first final of the year on Saturday against Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic at the doubles event of the Sydney International.

Aisam and Bopanna, who reunited after two year at the beginning of this year, defeated Czech republic’s Lukas Rosol and Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-2 in the semi-final on Friday.

On the other hand, the Indo-Pak Express’ final-round opponents Nestor and Zimonjic defeated Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 1-6, 10-6 in their last-four match.

It will be a big opportunity for Aisam and Bopanna to set the tone before the Australian Open that will begin on January 13.

“The Australian Open will be the biggest event for us this month of course,” Aisam told The Express Tribune. “That is why we are taking these tournaments as warm-ups for the big thing.

“We are sharing one coach this year, Scott Davidoff so this will help us improve.”

Aisam currently occupies 15th place in the ATP doubles individual rankings while Bopanna holds 13th position.

“We would need to work from the scratch when it comes to team ranking,” said Aisam, who finished last year on the fifth position with Jean-Julien Rojer in the doubles team rankings.

“But right now time we’ll be focusing on more practice and winning the events.”

Meanwhile, Bopanna said that an American coach will bring new ideas to the training, which will help both the players.

“It’s going to be beneficial for us because it will give us an outsider’s perspective,” said Bopanna.

The duo practiced for a couple of days with their new coach before competing in the ongoing tournament.

Earlier, Aisam and Bopanna played the Chennai Open where they lost in the quarter-finals.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2014.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.