Pakistani tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna have crash out of the Western and Southern tennis championships. In quarter-final, the fourth seeded pair of Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic defeated the fifth-seeded pair of Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi by 3-6, 2-6 in just 58 minutes.
Djokovic survives Monfils scare: Novak Djokovic survived a scare before easing through to the semis, but Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer’s US Open preparations hit a snag at the ATP Cincinnati Masters on Friday.
World No. 1 Djokovic outlasted Frenchman Gael Monfils to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a two and a half hour evening match. “It was a very physical match, but I hung in there and it was a good win,” Djokovic said. “It was an intense match, a lot of tension.”
But second seeded Spaniard Nadal and Swiss maestro Federer suffered surprising exits on the Cincinnati hardcourts in the final event before the start of the US Open in 10 days. World number two Nadal was defeated by American seventh seed Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-4. And Federer then crashed out to eighth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-2, 7-6 (7/3). Djokovic improved his season record to a superb 56-1, clinching the match after Monfils hammered a forehand into the net. He was made to work for the win as the Frenchman started quickly, hitting four aces to take the first set.
The sixth seeded Monfils continued his stellar play in the second set, breaking Djokovic’s serve in the sixth game. But Djokovic eventually came through, advancing to the semis where he will face Berdych.
The Czech claimed the third victory over Federer in a row and, despite playing with a sore shoulder, took full advantage of his opponent who has been struggling with his groundstrokes. Fish, who zinged a cross court forehand past Nadal to seal his first victory over the Spaniard in seven attempts, next faces world number four Andy Murray, who cruised past France’s Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-3. Nadal had battled through three tiebreakers over three and a half hours to beat Fernando Verdasco a day earlier.
He was also playing with two burned fingertips of his right hand heavily taped. But Nadal wasn’t making any excuses.
“It was a little bit unlucky week for me with the burned fingers and with the very long match yesterday,” Nadal said. “I don’t have a lot of feeling when I threw the ball with the right hand, and to play with the backhand, too. “I lost because Mardy played much better than me.” Fish made the most of his opportunity, saving all four break points he faced as he avenged a quarter-final loss to Nadal at Wimbledon.
The Spaniard got off to a sluggish start, his winners scarce amid an uncharacteristic display, which featured 20 unforced errors.
On the women’s side, fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova rolled into the semi-finals for the second straight year, beating Australian Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-2.
Sharapova will face second-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who let a second-set advantage slip but eventually put away unseeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 7-6 (8/6).
