Toronto/Montreal: India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi entered the men’s doubles quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup tennis with a 6-4, 7-6(6) victory over Australia’s Paul Hanley and Bruno Soares of Brazil.Although there was little to differentiate between the two sides, Bopanna and Qureshi managed to capitalise on one break point they got in the first set which they won 6-4.
The second set, however, went to a tie-breaker which the Indo-Pak pair won 7-6(6).
Bopanna and Qureshi next play the winner of the match between top seeded Mike and Bob Bryan duo of the US and Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.
However, it was end of the road for India’s Sania Mirza who with her Russian partner Elena Vesnina crashed out of the women’s doubles first round.
The fifth-seeded Indo-Russian pair were shocked 6-2, 0-6, 7-10 by Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
The fifth-seeded Indo-Russian pair squandered a set lead to eventually go down 6-2 0-6 7-10 to their Italian opponents.
After winning the first set comfortably, Sania and Vesnina failed to maintain the momentum and failed to pocket even a single game to lose the next set 0-6.
In the decider, the Indo-Russian pair did manage to pose a challenge but Errani and Vinci sealed the match in their favour with a 10-7 scoreline in the tie-breaker.
Earlier, Sania failed to make it to the main draw of the singles event here after losing in a marathon three-setter to Germany’s Kathrin Woerle in the qualifiers.
Before this tournament, Sania had lost in the first rounds of Citi Open and Mercury Insurance Open. She though did well in the doubles event by winning the title at the Citi Open with a new partner, Yaroslav Shvedova of Kazakhstan. (Agencies)
