Tennis: Indo-Pak Express halted in Vienna

Aisam, Bopanna crash out of Austrian Open.

VIENNA: Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the Austrian Open in the second round after a6-4, 3-6, 10-4 loss to Polish pair Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg.

Qureshi and Bopanna hit back after losing the first set but could not keep the momentum going and lost in one hour and 27 minutes.

Wozniacki crushed by Kvitova

Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki, who celebrated becoming year-end world number one for the second successive year, marked the occasion by crashing out of the WTA Championships.

Although the 21-year-old Dane has topped the rankings for 64 weeks, she was so outplayed by Petra Kvitova, the Wimbledon champion from the Czech Republic, she looked anything but world number one. There were moments when Wozniacki was so out of sorts during a 6-4, 6-2 defeat that the crowd began to applaud her out of sympathy.

“I tried my best, but my body didn’t want to do the things I asked,” Wozniacki said. “That’s not to say Petra would not have won the match anyway. She’s been playing very well and deserves to have won.”

It has been Victoria Azarenka who has been looking the strongest player in the field at the moment as she defeated Li Na 6-2, 6-2 win over Li Na for a semi-final place.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2011.