Sydney International: Aisam-Bopanna progress to semi-finals

Indo-Pak Express beat Huey-Inglot in last-eight.

KARACHI: Pakistan tennis player Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his India counterpart Rohan Bopanna cruised to their first semi-final of the year, defeating Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot at the Sydney International doubles event on Wednesday.

The third seeds picked up their pace in the pre-Australian Open tournament as they beat their opponents 6-7, 7-6, 10-3 in the quarter-finals.

The win enabled the Indo-Pak Express to book their place in the last-four against Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol and Portugal’s Joao Sousa, who defeated top seeds Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan 3-6, 6-3, 14-12.

“We aren’t worried about the rankings, they’ll improve as we win more matches,” Bopanna told The Express Tribune earlier. “Everything will fall into place; we just need time to practise together in Australia before the first grand slam of the year.”

Del Potro faces Czech hero in quarters

Juan Martin del Potro dropped the opening set before beating Nicolas Mahut to secure a quarter-final spot against Czech Davis Cup hero Radek Stepanek on Wednesday.

The Argentine, playing his first match of the year, rallied from a set down to beat Frenchman Mahut 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in his tournament opener after receiving a first-round bye.

World number five Del Potro will play Stepanek on Thursday for a place in the semi-finals after Stepanek defeated Spaniard Albert Ramos 6-2, 7-6 (7/5).

“For my first match in two months it was okay,” said Del Potro. “The court and the balls are really fast and it’s tough to play long rallies.

“Mahut serves really well and he played a lot of slices and volleys, so it was tough to feel the ball on the baseline.

Del Potro said Stepanek will be a tough opponent early in the season.

“They won the Davis Cup, so he must feel confident playing on this surface. He has experience.

“I need to improve my game a little bit from the start of the match and then see what happens.”

Stepanek became the first player to win decisive fifth rubbers in consecutive Davis Cup finals, against Serbia in Belgrade in November.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2014.

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