New Delhi: Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi on Tuesday advanced to the quarterfinals of Gerry Weber Open after defeating the pair of Ivan Dodig and Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets in the first round of the event at Halle, Germany.
The “Indo-Pak Express”, seeded top in the Euro 7,50,000 grass court tournament, defeated the duo of Dodig (Croatia) and Dolgopolov (Ukraine) 7-5 6-4.
In the quarterfinals, Bopanna and Qureshi will take on the combo of Dustin Brown of Germany and Gael Monfils of France, who beat Spanish duo of Pabio Andujar and David Marrero 6-0 6-4 in another first round match.
Shock defeat for Somdev
India’s ace tennis player Somdev Devvarman crashed out of the Queen’s tennis tournament after suffering a shock straight-set defeat against Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden in the opening round of the event here on Tuesday.
The Asian Games gold medallist Somdev lost 5-7 3-6 to unheralded Ebden in a contest that lasted little over an hour. World No. 67 Somdev is ranked 101 places above his opponent in the ATP rankings.
Ebden edged a tight first set and then went on to secure a win with a break late in the second set to clinch the biggest win of his career.
The 23-year-old South African-born Ebden (ranked 168th) will next face world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, who recently won his record sixth French Open title in Paris on Sunday, defeating world number three Roger Federer. (PTI)