US Open: Bopanna, Qureshi enter finals

Agencies

New Delhi, 09 September 2010: Rohan Bopanna from India and his Pakistani teammate Aisam Qureshi beat Argentina’s Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zeballos in straight sets 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to enter the men’s doubles final of the US Open at Flushing Meadows in New York on Wednesday.

 

The Indian duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi was the last pair from the sub-continent to reach the finals at Flushing Meadows. In fact, the two made it to the finals of all the four grand slam events in 1999 and went on to win the French Open and Wimbledon that year.

 

They were also the last subcontinental team to win the men’s doubles in a grand slam tournament when they won at Roland Garros again in 2001. Earlier, the Indo-Pak duo cruised into their first ever Grand Slam semi-final with a hard fought straight sets victory over 10th-seeded Dick Norman of Belgium and Wesley Moodie of South Africa.

 

 

Bopanna and Qureshi will take on top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan in the finals, whom they beat in the quarter finals of the Legg Mason Classic event in August. The Bryan brothers beat the no. 12 seeds Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-1, 6-4.

 

Coming into the US Open, the Indo-Pak combination have been in red hot form. They reached the finals of the Pilot Pen tennis tournament just before the US Open where they went down to the Swede-Romanian pairing of Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau.

 

They also made it to the semi-finals of the Legg Mason tournament in Washington by upseting the Bryan brothers in the last eight.