Aisam, Bopanna win Weber Open doubles title

Sports DesK LAHORE - -Top seeds Pakistani ace star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna lived up to their billing and won their first ATP title of the season, overcoming Robin Haase and Milos Raonic 7-6 (8), 3-6, 11-9 in the summit clash of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany on Sunday, according to information received here on Sunday.. It took the Indo-Pak Express pair one hour and 19 minutes to beat the Dutch-Canadian combination. The win would do a world of good to the confidence of the Indo-Pak pair in the run up to the Wimbledon Championships. It is Bopanna's third career ATP World Tour doubles title, having triumphed in Johannesburg with Qureshi last year and with American Eric Butorac in 2008 in Los Angeles. Apart from winning at Johannesburg, Bopanna had reached final six times. Except for Atlanta event, Qureshi was his partner in all those tournaments, including the US Open. Overall, they were playing their ninth ATP World Tour doubles final together. In Sunday's final, interestingly the Indo-Pak pair could not convert any of the four breakpoints, three in the opening set, and also dropped their serve in the second set but held their nerves in the Super Tie break to clinch the issue. Meanwhile, Pakistan tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi Sunday dedicated his victory at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany to the nation and said that it was the result of the nation's support and prayers. While talking to the Waqt News from Germany, Aisam said that he would continue the hard work to bring more laurels to the country. Aisam and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna lived up to their top-seed billing and won their first ATP title of the season, overcoming Robin Haase and Milos Raonic 7-6 (8), 3-6, 11-9 in the final. He said the victory has raised his morale which would help in the upcoming events too. He lauded his partner and said the co-ordination between them is excellent which helped them to overcome their opponents.

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