Pakistan’s Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna fought hard to overcome Michael Mertinak of Slovakia and Dick Norman of Belgium in a closely-contested encounter to book a place in the doubles quarter-finals of the Miami ATP Masters.
The seventh-seed Indo-Pak pair struggled to beat their unseeded rivals 7-6, 3-6, 10-8 in the second round of the hard court event.
They now face giant-killers Oliver Marach of Austria and Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic, who registered an upset win over top-seeds Bob and Mike Bryan, defeating them 7-5, 6-4 in their pre-quarterfinal match.
Federer, Nadal progress
Roger Federer fought through a tough first set and turned it on in the second to beat Juan Monaco 7-6, 6-4 as the Swiss advanced in Miami. Federer’s clean and clinical third-round victory over the Argentine improved his overall Miami mark to 38-10.
“It was tough not having played him very often,” said the Swiss. “This is as slow as it gets on the hard court. I thought he played well in the later stages of the first set and also in the second. I had a return game which worked well. So it was a good finish for me.”
Federer will next play longtime friend Olivier Rochus, a winner over Russian Mikhail Youzhny 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Top-seed Rafael Nadal was also able to register a comfortable win, beating fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3. Seventh-seed Tomas Berdych beat Argentine Carlos Berlocq 7-6, 7-5, while Tipsarevic beat German Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-3. Spanish 11th-seed Nicolas Almagro was upset by Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
Petkovic upsets Wozniacki
In women’s play, Caroline Wozniacki’s dream of a title win hit the wall as the top-seed was upset 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 by Germany’s Andrea Petkovic. The winner performed a snippet of her jiggy “Petko” victory dance after the upset in just under two-and-a half hours.
“It wasn’t like I played unbelievable,” said the German. “It was more that I was able to stick to my game plan and I was playing clever.”
Petkovic needed an hour to win the opening set against the Dane. She went up 4-2 in the third set and three games later was into the quarter-finals after firing her third ace of the afternoon on match-point.
Pole Agnieszka Radwanska crushed Roland Garros winner Francesca Schiavone in a 6-0, 6-2 hammering of the Italian. Serb sixth-seed Jelena Jankovic beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1, 6-3.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2011.
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