The India-Pakistan tennis duo of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi advanced to the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo ATP Masters tournament, shocking second seeds Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi in the quarter-finals on Friday.
The 'Indo-Pak Express', seeded sixth in the tournament, overcame a strong fightback from the Canada-Belarus pair in the second set to win 6-1, 7-5 in a little over 74 minutes.
On Thursday, Bopanna and Qureshi, making their first appearance in Monte Carlo, showed little signs of nerves as they beat Eric Butorac and Roger Julien, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in 90 minutes to make it to the last eight stage.
While the South Asian pair failed to convert the breakpoints, they took the match into a tie-breaker, during which they set up a mini-break at 3-4 and were soon serving for the set at 5-3.
The second set was a less intense affair as Qureshi-Bopanna broke their opponents' serve after the third game to take a 3-1 lead.
Butorac and Julien, who were semi-finalists at this year's Australian Open, were unable to break back and lost the set 6-3.
The match saw six aces being hit by Qureshi and Bopanna, one less than their opponents, and the Indo-Pak Express saved all four break-points they faced, while Butorac and Julien saved all but one of their 12 break-points, which led to their defeat in the second set.
ANI
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