Doubles pair through to second round;
Pakistani also registers win in mixed
doubles event. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
Pakistan tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his Dutch partner Jean-Julien Rojer eased into the third round of the French Open doubles event, defeating Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene and Grega Zemlja 7-5, 6-1 in Paris yesterday.
The sixth-seeds will now face the South American pair of Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos and Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas. Zeballos and Cuevas defeated ninth-seeds India’s Leander Paes and Austria’s Jurgen Melzer 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) in their second-round match.
Earlier, Aisam and Rojer began their campaign at the French Open with a win against Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy and Dmitri Tursunov 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).
Aisam also registered a win in the mixed doubles event, teaming up with Zimbabwe’s Cara Black to defeat the top-seeded duo of India’s Sania Mirza and Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt 6-2, 6-3 in the first round.
Sharapova, Azarenka survive Paris fault lines
In the women’s singles draw, defending champion Maria Sharapova and third-seeded Victoria Azarenka reached the French Open last-16, but piled up a combined 18 double faults and 65 unforced errors between them.
World number two Sharapova clinched a 6-1, 7-5 win over China’s Zheng Jie, the world number 43, in a third round clash which witnessed 11 breaks of serve.
Sharapova and Azarenka registered straight-sets wins but their performance was far from convincing, while Aisam-Rojer and Nishikori also won their respective matches. PHOTO: AFP
The second-seeded Russian will take on America’s Sloane Stephens who reached the last-16 for the second successive year with a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 win over New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic.
“I was lucky to get through that second set,” said Sharapova. “I was a break down so I am happy to pull it through in straight sets. It’s not over until the last point is played and I felt like I was playing with a lot of energy out there.”
Meanwhile, Azarenka overcame 10 double faults and 31 errors on her way to defeating France’s Alize Cornet, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
The 23-year-old Australian Open champion reeled off the last six games of the match and goes on to face Italy’s 2010 champion Francesca Schiavone.
“I really felt that I left my serve at home,” said Azarenka, who has never got beyond the quarter-finals in Paris. “But if I can win serving like this, that’s pretty remarkable.”
In other matches, Bethanie Mattek-Sands made the last-16 with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Argentine qualifier Paula Ormaechea and Francesca Schiavone ended French hopes in the women’s singles by putting out 13th seed Marion Bartoli, 6-2, 6-1.
Nishikori marches on
Kei Nishikori became the first Japanese man to reach the last-16 of the French Open in 75 years when he defeated Benoit Paire of France 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-1 in a third round match.
Emulating the feat of Fumiteru Nakano in 1938, 13th seeded Nishikori will next attempt to match his march into the 2012 Australian Open quarter-finals, but he will likely have to get past seven-time champion Rafael Nadal to do so.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 2nd, 2013.
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Proud of Aisam.