Aisam, Bopanna crush Djokovic, Triocki

Pakistan tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna’s dream run continues as they stormed into the semi-finals.

LAHORE:

Pakistan tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna’s dream run continued as they stormed into the semi-finals of the doubles event at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells after handing out a straight-sets defeat to Serbs Novak Djokovic and Victor Troicki 6-1, 7-6. The Indo-Pak Express had earlier beaten Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to reach the quarter-finals.

The match began with the current Australian Open champion and singles world number three Djokovic having his serve broken while his partner fared no better as Aisam and Bopanna took the first set 6-1 with ruthless domination.

In the second set Aisam found himself 15-40 down at 4-5, facing three break points that would have sent the match into a super-tie breaker. The subcontinent pair, however, dug deep and saved the game till the set went into a tie breaker and ultimately handing over the Serbs a shock defeat.

The pair next faces Alexander Dolgopolov and Xavier Malisse in the semi-finals.

Nadal, Federer into last-eight

In the singles event, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer reached the Indian Wells last-eight where they were joined by Novak Djokovic.

World number one Nadal defeated Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman 7-5, 6-4 while 16-time major winner Federer also faced a stubborn opponent in American Ryan Harrison before he pulled off a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 win.

Nadal advances to the last-eight where he will face hard-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic who beat Albert Montanes of Spain 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 while Federer set-up a quarter-final clash against Stanislas Wawrinka.

Djokovic continues winning streak

Djokovic stretched his win streak to 17 by crushing doubles partner, and Davis Cup winning teammate, Viktor Troicki 6-0, 6-1. Djokovic, who has only lost six games through three matches, clinched victory over Troicki with a backhand winner down the line and now has 17 successive wins, a run dating back to last year’s Davis Cup final.

“I have been playing the best tennis of my life in the last three months,” said Djokovic.

Roddick’s reign ends

In the quarter-finals, Djokovic will face Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who defeated eighth-seeded Andy Roddick 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).

It was a frustrating loss for Roddick, who was runner-up in Indian Wells last year. In the tiebreaker, Roddick hurled his racquet across the court and argued several times with umpire Fergus Murphy and at one stage barked, “I am giving you a warning”.

Asked why he gave Murphy a warning, Roddick replied, “Because he gave me a warning. I feel like with the mistakes he made, it’s only fair that I would give him a warning, as well.”

In the other matches, Marion Bartoli defeated Ana Ivanovic to become the first woman to reach the Indian Wells semi-finals. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2011.