IndoPak Express Delivers—Nathan’s Blog
By: Nathan M. Cuny
You know, there are some curious things going on in tennis right now: Federer won for the first time ever at the BNP Paribas Masters; Nadal pulled out long before the tournament started; Djokovic pulled out two rounds into the tournament making a $1.6 million bonus; and two players who I’ve been writing consistently about won BIG.
That’s right—Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi used those rackets like men and won their first Masters title of the season. To be honest I have no idea what’s going on with them…not that it’s a bad thing. They defeated the French wild card team of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 6-4 on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Masters 1000 in Paris.
Mahut and Benneteau paved the way a little for IndoPak Express knocking out the top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in the second round, and later the sixth seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the quarter finals. That’s not to say Bopanna and Qureshi didn’t have a part in their journey to the title. They upset No.2 seeds Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic in the quarter finals and ousted the No.3 seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in the semifinals.
Rohan Bopanna was ecstatic after his and Qureshi’s win in Paris. In the midst of the excitement Bopanna stated, “This win gives us a lot of confidence, it is our biggest title by far. All the hard work over the years has paid off.” Following in step with Bopanna, Qureshi said, “We are ecstatic to win our first Masters 1000 title. Last year we didn’t play well in finals and this year we have won three out of three.” Now, mathematically speaking the BNP Paribas Masters title means way more than a confidence boost for IndoPak Express, it is a Masters 1000 after all.
As semi-predicted, these two old dogs are now charging forth into the Barclays Finals as the No. 5 team. Bopanna and Qureshi ‘s advance past the quarterfinals in Paris boosted their South African Airways YTP points enough to tie their ranking with the No. 6 team, Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner. Then they did the impossible. Bopanna and Qureshi won the tournament pushing the prior mentioned No. 6 team out of the way as well as the former No.5 team of Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau.
Now let’s talk about Barclays. The final and biggest tournament of the year is only 5 days away. The finals’ groupings haven’t been announced yet, however you can listen to them at 12:30pm GMT/7:30am EST, live here. As a teaser, here’s a quick review of the doubles teams current YTD rankings as they head for Barclays: No.1 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan; No.2 Michael Llodra/Nenad Zimonjic ; No.3 Daniel Nestor/Max Mirnyi; No.4 Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes; No.5 Rohan Bopanna/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi; No.6 Robert Lindstedt/Horia Tecau; No.7 Jurgen Melzer/Philipp Petzschner; No. 8 Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski. Lastly, those rankings can change and surprises are sure to happen. One such surprise could be a year end finish as world No.4 for Bopanna and Qureshi.
Topics: Aisam Ul Haq Qureshi, Rohan Bopanna
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