New Delhi, Jan 7 (IANS) India’s tennis doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi registered their second win of the new year after coming together again, winning the first round of men’s doubles competitions of the ATP Apia International here Tuesday.
Bopanna and Qureshi defeated the Dutch-Roman pair of Jean-Julien Roger and Horia Tecau in the first round of the $511,825 hardcourt event.
The Indo-Pak pair, who are seeded third, won 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 10-3 over Roger and Tecau in one hour and 41 minutes.
In their first match of the season, Bopanna and Qureshi had defeated Stanislas Wawrinka and Benoit Paire, but the next match they suffered a loss and made a second round exit from last week’s Chennai Open.
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Bopanna and Qureshi will next face Treat Huey from Philippines and Briton Dominic Inglot. Huey and Inglot had defeated the Spanish pair of Pablo Andujar and David Marrero 6-4, 6-3 in the first round.
Meanwhile, the second-seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek will start their campaign against the French pair of Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. In the Chennai Open, Vasselin had finished runners-up in the men’s singles.
It was also end of the road for India’s Somdev Devvarman, who failed to qualify for the main draw in the singles after he lost in the second round of the qualifiers.
