Aisam, Bopanna in Nice doubles final

NICE: Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna reached their third ATP World Tour final at the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur.

The sub-continent pair beat Leos Friedl and Dusan Vemic 7-6, 3-6, 10-8 in one hour and 44 minutes despite winning two fewer points (68 of 138 total points) than their opponents. The winning pair hit four aces overall and won six of nine service points to recover from a 5-8 deficit in a tense tie-break.

In the final, the duo will meet either Italians Andreas Seppi and Potito Starace or third-seeded Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares, who defeated Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky 7-6, 6-4.

Monfils, Baghdatis crash out

Gael Monfils and Marcos Baghdatis, ranked third and fifth seeds respectively, both crashed out in the quarterfinals of the singles tournament. World number 15 Monfils fell to Potito Starace, ranked 63rd, in straight sets, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2. Meanwhile, Leonardo Mayer, ranked 59th in the world, needed three hours to get past the world number 29 Baghdatis from Cyprus 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2010.