Aisam, Bopanna off to a winning start

Nadal, Federer breeze into Monte Carlo last-eight.

MONACO:

The Indo-Pak Express of Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna prevailed over American Eric Butorac and his partner Roger Julien 7-6, 6-3 in the pre-quarter final of ATP Masters Tennis Championship in Monte Carlo.

This was Aisam and Bopanna’s first match on clay at the Masters level. The subcontinent pair put pressure on their opponents from the beginning and as a result managed to set up eight break points in the first set which they clinched 7-6.

Maintaining the same momentum, Aisam and Bopanna continued their form in the second set and broke Butorac’s serve at 2-1 to take a 3-1 lead, ultimately winning the set. They completed the victory in one hour and 30 minutes with the help of six aces, as opposed to their opponents’ seven.

In the quarter-final, Aisam and Bopanna will face second-seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada and Max Mirnyi of Belarus.

Nadal notches eighth win over Gasquet

Top-seed Rafael Nadal maintained his traditional momentum at the Monte Carlo Masters as the Spaniard powered into the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-4 win, seeing off a French challenge from Richard Gasquet.

Gasquet secured a break-back for 4-4 after losing his serve to the dominating Nadal, now an untouchable 36-1 at the event he has won for the last six years. Nadal served out the victory in 93 minutes for his eighth victory without a loss against the 18th-ranked Gasquet.

Nadal, bidding to be the first man to win the same tournament seven times in a row as he warms up for next month’s French Open, next faces a seasoned opponent in Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic, who upset Czech fifth-seed Thomas Berdych 6-4, 6-2.

Federer, Ferrer progress

Second-seed Federer staked his claim for the trophy with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Croatia’s Marin Cilic in his third-round match. The Swiss barely got out of first gear but unleashed some superb winners and the result was never in doubt.

Meanwhile, two more Spanish seeds had mixed results in the third round, with number four David Ferrer defeating Canadian breakthrough player Milos Raonic 6-1, 6-3 as the 34th-ranked youngster lost serve five times and committed 40 unforced errors in slower conditions imminently suitable to the grinding Ferrer game.

Serb 11th-seed Viktor Troicki reached the last-eight as Spain’s Tommy Robredo retired to hand over a 3-6, 2-1 win.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th,  2011.