Date:03/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/03/stories/2007120356752000.htm

Sport - Tennis

Qureshi to focus on singles

Principal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: His maiden title triumph at the ATP Challenger here on Saturday has forced Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi to give a more serious thought to his singles career.

As the SAIL Open $50,000 ATP Challenger tennis tournament gets underway here on Monday, Qureshi and his Indian partner, Rohan Bopanna, have decided not to play in it as a team. The two have been doing well together, but the Pakistani has decided to concentrate on the singles for the week where the second seed stands a very good chance given the depleted field.

Only three seeded players of the past week have stayed on as Bopanna, who is ranked 267 on the ATP list, gets into the seeding. Should the results go by seedings, Bopanna and Qureshi are set to meet in the quarterfinals.

In the past they have met on five occasions, Qureshi winning on four. Bopanna has beaten the Pakistani once, at the Manchester Challenger this year.

Korea’s Jae Sung An, who finished runner-up to Qureshi last week, is in the top half of the draw and meets the sixth-seeded Michail Elgin of Russia in the first round. As for the Indians, there are eight in the main draw and this week will offer a good opportunity for them to earn points. A win is worth five ATP points and $860.

From the qualifying tournament, Ranjeet Virali Murugesan defeated Spaniard Daniel-Andreas Rodriguez-Redondo in a marathon match. The Indian won 7-6 (7/0), 7-5. Also advancing was Tushar Liberhan, who defeated Purav Raja, 6-2, 6-3. Liberhan now takes on Bopanna in the first round.

The seedings:

1. Kristian Pless (Den), 2. Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak), 3. Adrian Cruciat (Rou), 4. Adrian Menendez (Esp), 5. Michail Elgin (Rus), 6. Rohan Bopanna (Ind), 7. Joshua Goodall (Gbr), 8. Ivan Sergeyev (Ukr).

The results (qualifying): Third round: Ilia Marchenko (Ukr) bt Rohan Gide 6-3, 6-0, Tushar Liberhan bt Purav Raja 6-2, 6-3, Nathan Thompson (U.S.) bt Xin-Yuan Yu (Chn) 6-3, 7-5, Ranjeet Virali Murugesan bt Daniel-Andreas Rodriguez-Redondo (Esp) 7-6(7/0), 7-5.