Pakistan tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna continued their magnificent roll in the current season, outplaying the unseeded Spaniard duo of Nicolas Almagro and Pablo Andujar in the first round of the Valencia Open on Monday night.
The fourth seeded duo of Aisam and Bopanna took merely 67 minutes of play to wrap up victory in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, to make a berth in the quarterfinals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 event.
The contest was played on the indoor hard courts of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia, Spain, and ended to the dismay of the local crowd, as the Spaniards crashed out of the first round of draw. Almagro and Andujar failed to pose any serious challenge to the belligerence of the seventh ranked duo in the contest. The Indo-Pak Express has already bagged two doubles championship titles in the running season and their forceful start in Valencia hints that the fourth seeded duo is well on their way to extend their title count in this event. The fourth seeded contestants delivered merely 54 per cent of its serve on target but dropped just three points on the first serve, clinching 26 out of 29, to come out as the winner. Bopanna and Qureshi converted four of their seven break opportunities in the matchup, while Almagro and Andujar stung two out of four serve breaks to finish on the losing side in the end.
The Spaniard were off to an ordinary start in the first set. One break of serve proved enough for Aisam and Bopanna to close out the opener at 6-3, giving them 1-0 lead. Indo-Pak duo won the second set 7-5. Indo-Pak Express will face Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares or the local wildcard duo of Roberto Bautista-Agut and Albert Ramos in quarters.
