Aisam, Rojer through to quarters

Pair to meet Bryan brothers in Cincinnati Masters.

Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Dutch partner Jean-Julien Rojer will moved into the quarter-final os the Cincinnati Masters with a 6-2, 7-4 win over James Blake and Sam Querrey.

The straight-set win meant that the pair was up against second-seeds Mike and Bob Bryan in the quarter-final that was scheduled for late last night.

Meanwhile, Olympic gold medallist Andy Murray was sent crashing out on Thursday, falling 6-4, 6-4 to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

Murray won a match in Toronto last week before quitting with a knee injury but had looked impressive in his opener here against American Sam Querrey. But the 25-year-old was distinctly under-cooked against Chardy and his 16th unforced error of the second set sent the Frenchman into the last eight.

“Winning tournaments before a major tournament hasn’t helped me,” said Murray. “That doesn’t normally have that much bearing. But I would have liked to have done a bit better this week.”

Roger Federer, meanwhile, turned in another flawless performance, schooling Australian teenager Bernard Tomic 6-2, 6-4 with 27 winners.

“Overall I’m happy but it’s hard to judge my game in these quick conditions,” said Federer, the Olympic silver medallist, who however admitted that his serve was ‘a bit off’.

“It was a good performance, I’m playing as well as I want to right now.”(With additional input from AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2012.