Aisam, Bopanna crash out of final

Indo-Pak Express succumb to straight-set loss in St Petersburg.

Pakistan tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his doubles partner Rohan Bopanna lost to Danielle Bracciali and Potito Starace in the final of the ATP World Tour St Petersburg Open in Russia.

The Italian pair defeated the Indo-Pak Express in straight-sets, with the 7-6(7-6), 7-6(7-5) win allowing them their first team title in St Petersburg and handing Qureshi and Bopanna their fifth consecutive defeat in a tour-level final.

The final, which lasted 96 minutes, saw Qureshi and Bopanna hit eight aces compared to their opponents’ five with neither pair able to break serve during the match. However, it was the winning the all-important tie-break points that helped the Italians lift the trophy of the tournament where they did not lose even a single set.

Earlier, Qureshi and Bopanna had overpowered Slovakian duo Filip Polasek and Igor Zelenay 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 to make it into the final and had also defeated Serbian pair of Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki 3-6, 7-6, 10-1 to secure their berth in the last-four. They made it through the opening round by beating Sergiy Stakhovsky and Mikhail Youzhny 6-2, 2-6, 10-3.

The Indo-Pakistan Express sit sixth in the world doubles ranking, their career-best.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2010.