Rohan-Aisam duo enter St. Petersburg quarterfinals after ‘tough’ opening round

KARACHI - The tennis duo comprising Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan and Rohan Bopanna of India have entered the quarterfinals of St. Petersburg ATP World Rating Tennis Championship.

Though the Indo-Pak Express had to face tough resistance from the top Russian pair of Mikhail Youzhny and Sergiy Stakhovsky in the opening round, they emerged as winners after a tough battle, The Nation reported.

In the opening set in front of a large local crowd, Aisam and Rohan played superb tennis. They served well and returned equally well, and conceded only four points in the entire first set on their own service games, hitting sizzling winners on their opponent’s serves and breaking their service game twice to take the first set 6-2.

Things were moving quite well for them in the second set too, when suddenly at 2-2, 40-0, Rohan hit two double faults followed by a missed volley which exposed him to a score of 40-40.

Here he missed the first serve and Youzhny was too good on returning the second, which resulted in a break of serve for the Asian duo. This suddenly changed momentum of the game as the Russians became bullish and went on to win the second set with a matching score of 6-2.

Thereafter, the match entered the super tie-break stage in which Aisam and Rohan bounced back brilliantly.

They held points on their own serves, and got mini breaks on every return point served to take the tie-break and seal their victory.

While Rohan-Aisam duo hit two aces and two double faults, grabbing 52 of the 100 points played, Youzhny and his partner hit three aces and one double fault, earning 48 points. (ANI)