Tennis: Aisam, Bopanna through to semis

Indo-Pak Express crafts hard-fought win at Stockholm Open.

STOCKHOLM: Pakistan’s Aisamul Haq and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna marched into the doubles semi-finals of the €600,000 Stockholm Open after crafting out a hard-fought 7-6, 7-5 win against the German pair of Michael Kohlmann  and Alexander Waske.

The top seeds had earlier beaten Julian Knowle of Austria and Poland’s Lukasz Kubot 6-4, 6-4 to qualify for the last-eight. The world number seven pair will be looking to win the tournament in order to brighten their chances of reaching the ATP World Tour Finals next month with only three qualifying spots left for the event. Meanwhile, rising Bulgarian star Grigor Dimitrov reached his fourth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season as he ousted fourth-seed Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 in the singles event.

World number 70 Dimitrov recorded just his second win in 15 attempts over a top-30 player this season as he converted six of 10 break points. Dimitrov will now face sixth-seed Canadian Milos Raonic.

World number 28 Chela was playing his first hard-court match since the US Open, having received a bye in the first round.

In other results, Finland’s Jarrko Nieminen beat Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4, while American James Blake upset second-seed Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-4.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2011.