Aisam, Bopanna progress in Chennai

Aisamul Haq Qureshi and partner Rohan Bopanna from India cruised to a win in the opening round of the Chennai ATP Open

Pakistan tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his doubles partner Rohan Bopanna from India cruised to a win in the opening round of the Chennai ATP Open. The duo, who is seeded second in the tournament, defeated Marcos Daniel of Brazil and Eduardo Schwank of Argentina 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

The sub-continental pair claimed 11 aces and managed to save all of their breakpoints to complete their victory against their unseeded opponents in 71 minutes.

Aisam and Bopanna will next face Robin Haase from the Netherlands and American David Martin in the second round, who earlier defeated the Indian pair of Somedev Devvarman and Sanam Singh 5-7, 6-2, 10-8.

Bopanna bowed out of the singles event after being defeated by Stanislaus Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round while Aisam lost to Ante Pavic of Croatia by the same margin.

Earlier, the pair launched their official ‘Stop War Start Tennis’ brand in Chennai. The duo introduced the brand and a newly-designed logo at a pre-tournament press conference.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2011.