Miami: Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi warded off late resistance from the German-American pair of Philipp Kohlschreiber and Rajeev Ram to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open.
The seventh-seeded Indo-Pakistani pair beat the unseeded rival team 6-3 7-6(5). Bopanna and Qureshi will next face the Slovak-Belarussian pair of Michal Mertinak and Dick Norman.
Bopanna and Qureshi frittered away four break points in the opening set itself but managed to convert one against their rivals' none to get the edge. The second set was a closer battle but Mertinak and Norman once again wasted the opportunities they got converting just one of the seven break points they earned.
Bopanna and Qureshi, however, negated that by converting the only break they got.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, March 27, 2011, 17:52