Tennis: Aisam, Bopanna carve out victory

Indo-Pak pair battle past Brazilian duo in Austrian Open.

VIENNA: Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his partner Rohan Bopanna eked out a narrow win against the pair of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares, 2-6, 7-6, 10-4 to move into the second round of the Austrian Open’s doubles event.

The Indo-Pak duo was given a tough time by the same opponents whom they had beaten in straight sets in the Stockholm Open final last week. A win here will brighten Aisam and Bopanna’s chances of playing at ATP World Tour Finals later this year.

Sharapova suffers loss

Elsewhere, Maria Sharapova’s hopes of winning back the WTA Championship title after a seven-year break suffered a blow when she was beaten 6-1, 7-5 by US Open champion Samantha Stosur in Istanbul.

The world number two admitted that her month-long lay-off had a negative impact on her performance.

“It’s tough to come back after a month and compete at this level,” she said. “But at least I’ve given myself a chance to be here, which was a question two weeks ago. It’s good that I’ve a couple of matches to go.”

Sharapova may now have to beat both Li Na and Victoria Azarenka if she is to reach the semi-finals.

Sharapova’s loss increases the chances that Caroline Wozniacki will finish the season as world number one, as she survived a scare against Agnieszka Radwanska, beating the Pole 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in a tortuous tussle of containment and counter-attack.

There were moments when she called upon her father-coach Piotr Wozniacki to help work out how to overcome Radwanska.

Earlier, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova made a good start to her hopes of winning the second biggest title of her career, when she overcame Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-4.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2011.