Pakistan’s Aisamul haq Qureshi and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna, the top seed doubles player, crashed out in the first round of the Japan Open, losing to the Brazilian duo of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 6-4, 6-3. This was the first outing for Aisam and Bopanna together since the pair lost in the semi-finals of the US Open.
The duo will now have to do well at the Shanghai Masters that starts next week to ensure that they qualify for the World Tour Finals in London. Aisam a few days ago won the doubles event in Thailand. Meanwhile, in women’s event Pole Agnieszka Radwanska beat China’s Zheng Jie 6-1, 6-4. The 11th-seed saved five of six break points and broke Zheng’s serve four times. Second-seed Victoria Azarenka also went through to the third round, with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Polona Hercog.
In the men’s draw, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco defeated Italy’s Flavio Cipolla 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. Mikhail Youzhny advanced over Feliciano Lopez 6-7, 6-2, 7-5, ignoring 20 aces from the Spaniard, who also struck 10 double-faults. Tomas Berdych demolished Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-0.
