Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and his India partner Rohan Bopanna advanced to the French Open doubles quarter-finals after a straight-set win over Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.
The fifth seeded Indo-Pak pair beat their unseeded opponents 6-3, 7-5 in a third round match that lasted 69 minutes. It will be Bopanna and Qureshi’s third quarter-final appearance in the last four Grand Slams.
They now clash with top seeded American twins Mike and Bob Bryan, who defeated Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili and Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 7-6 (6) 7-5 in nother pre-quarter-final.
Bopanna and Qureshi had lost to the Bryans in last year’s US Open final. Bopanna is the only Indian surviving in the men’s doubles, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi having made a shock second round exit.
Later in the day, seventh seeds Sania Mirza and Russia’s Elena Vesnina take on top seeds Gisela Dulko [of Argentina and Flavia Pennetta of Italy in the women’s doubles quarter-finals.
Another contest of Indian interest is the mixed doubles quarter-final between the Indo-Czech pair of Paes-Iveta Benesova and the top seeded combination of Slovakia’s Katarina Srebotnik and Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic.
Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina of Russia shocked top seeds Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Flavia Pennetta of Italy to enter the women’s doubles semifinals on Monday.
Seventh-seeded Sania and Elena won 6-0 7-5 in 66 minutes. They now play the winner of the match between fourth-seeded Americans Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond and fifth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Maria Kirilenko of Russia.
French Open results
Men (4th round)
Rafael Nadal (ESP x1) bt Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) 7-5, 6-3, 6-3
Robin Soderling (SWE x5) bt Gilles Simon (FRA x18) 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5)
Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) bt Alejandro Falla (COL) 4-6, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2
Gael Monfils (FRA x9) bt David Ferrer (ESP x7) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 1-6, 8-6
Women (4th rd)
Li Na (CHN x6) bt Petra Kvitova (CZE x9) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3
Victoria Azarenka (BLR x4) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 6-2, 6-3
Men’s doubles (Quarter-finals)
Juan Sebastian Cabal/Eduardo Schwank (COL/ARG) bt Daniele Bracciali/Potito Starace (ITA/ITA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
Women’s doubles (Quarter-finals)
Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka (CZE/CZE) bt Kveta Peschke/Katarina Srebotnik (CZE/SLO x2) 6-3, 7-5
Sania Mirza/Elena Vesnina (IND/RUS x7) bt Giselo Dulko/Flavia Pennetta (ARG/ITA x1) 6-0, 7-5
Mixed doubles (Quarter-finals)
Katarina Srebotnik/Nenad Zimonjic (SLO/SRB x1) bt Iveta Benesova/Leander Paes (CZE/IND x7) 7-6 (7/3), 6-3
Casey Dellacqua/Scott Lipsky (AUS/USA) bt Vladimira Uhlirova/Michal Mertinak (CZE/SVK) 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (8/6)
Aisam-Bopanna in French Open quarter-finals
