Aisam, Bopanna fail to bring home ATP gold

Indo-Pak Express lose 6-7 (6), 6-7 (5) in the fiercely fought final of the St. Petersburg Open.

Pakistan's ace tennis players Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his Indian teammate Rohan Bopanna failed to capture their second ATP title of the season after losing in the fiercely fought final of the St. Petersburg Open to Daniele Bracciali and Starace Potito in St Petersburg, Russia.

The second seeded Indo-Pak pair fought gallantly before losing 6-7 (6), 6-7 (5) to their unseeded Italian rivals in one hour and 36 minutes.

The Indo-Pak Express earned 150 ATP ranking points each by reaching the final however, which will help them stay in contention for a place in the season-endingand prestigious World Tour finals.

They are standing seventh in the top-ranked teams in the world and need to remain in the top eight to qualify. With this defeat, Aisam and Rohan have now lost six of the seven ATP finals this season. They won their first title in February at Johannesburg and have lost all six finals they have reached after that.

They lost the summit clashes of the US Open and New Haven event in August, Atlanta event in July, Nice event in May and Morocco event in April.