Aisam, Rojer try to make amends in Portugal

Pak-Dutch duo to play Estoril Open final today.

Top-seeds Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Julien Rojer will get a chance to amend their track record when they take part in the final of the Estoril Open men’s doubles event.

Their opponents were to be decided in last night’s late semi-final between the duo of Julian Knowle-David Marrero and Mikhail Elgin-Denis Istomin.

Aisam and Rojer sealed their place in the final with a straight-sets 6-3, 6-1 win over Richard Gasquet and Eduard Roger-Vasselin.

Aisam, who has slipped from eighth to 14th in doubles rankings, needs to get back into the top-10 by next month in order to be eligible for the London Olympics.

Kanepi wins women’s title

Meanwhile, Estonian Kaia Kanepi saved two match points in a 3-6 7-6, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro in the women’s final of the Estoril Open yesterday.

It was the second WTA title of the season for the sixth-seed Estonian who missed two months with injury and went through the Portugal week entirely without help from outside.

“This is a very special trophy for me,” said Kanepi. “I don’t have a coach right now, this is something that I did all on my own. I knew that it was not over until the last point and that’s the way it went. I’m so happy to win. I fought for every point.”

The 58th-ranked Navarro lost out to nerves in the battle that went on for almost three hours.

The Spaniard won the opening set with ease and was up a break in the second when her opponent started to find her range and confidence.

Kanepi, a former French Open junior winner, benefited from four breaks in the last five games of the second set which took it into the tiebreaker.

Later, the Estonian hung on in the final set to earn victory on a concluding break, her sixth of the afternoon.

“I had chances to win, but I got nervous,” said Navarro. “I didn’t play my best when I needed to, she wore me down, especially mentally.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2012.