After losing the first set, Bopanna and Qureshi staged a comeback to level the match by winning the second. But the French-Spanish duo held their nerve in a hard-fought super tie-breaker to win 6-4, 3-6, 7-10.
Despite the defeat, the pair remained positive about their performance in the tournament.
“We had come here to win the title,” said Bopanna. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.
“That’s part of the game. The main thing is this is the first time we won here in Dubai which is a huge positive.”
Qureshi said, “We are on the right track and we have played relatively well. We have to keep working on our game and learn from our mistakes.”
Federer blows away Gasquet
Roger Federer reached the final of the singles event with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over unseeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
The world number two blew Gasquet away in the opening set, breaking twice as the Frenchman struggled. Gasquet made more of a fight in the second set, going 5-3 up, but eventually surrendered to Federer’s quick-fire double break.
Djokovic scrapes through to final
The Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic struggled into the Dubai Open final after beating Tomas Berdych.
Djokovic won 6-7, 6-2, 4-2 in a dramatic match in which third-seed Berdych retired hurt in the deciding set. The second-seed struggled to hit form in the opening set, losing the tiebreak 7-5.
But the Serb battled back in the second set and was ahead in the third when Berdych retired with an injured left thigh.
“I couldn’t serve,” said Berdych. “So to play Novak, one of the best returners, without being able to serve, I had no chance.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 26th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ