06 January,2011 08:48 AM IST | | Naoshirvan Vakil
After cruising into round two of the Chennai Open yesterday, Bops-Qureshi joke about spending more time with each other than with their families India's Rohan Bopanna (right) and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam ul-Haq Qureshi were instant hits with the Chennai crowd. The Indo-Pak Friendship Express displayed dazzling strokeplay and on-court chemistry whilst winning their opening doubles encounter in the Chennai Open yesterday.
Bopanna and Qureshi doused the hopes of Argentina's Eduardo Schwank and Marcos Daniel of Brazil 6-3 7-6 (3) with a rousing display of tennis.
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Bopanna, nicknamed Bofors, for his big serves belted down aces while Qureshi, struck brilliant returns and made timely interceptions at the net. Incidentally, Schwank and Daniel hailing from countries with bitter sporting rivalries, often tried to lob their opponents which just didn't work as the Indo-Pak duo made easy meat of the smashes. In the second set, the Argentina-Brazil combine did make Bopanna-Qureshi sweat. They stretched the set to the tie-break before Bopanna killed off the contest with two huge aces.
"We looked a bit nervous at the beginning as this was our first match of the season and the first time we were playing at the Chennai Open. But in between points we shared a few laughs and that eased the tension,'' exclaimed the jovial Qureshi. "We have been seeing enough of each other, we just had a two week break at the end of last year,'' was Bopanna's reaction to the amount of tennis they have played together.
"I have seen more of Bopanna than my family. Joked the Pakistani. If they are spending so much time together on court, one wonders if they do much in their spare time. "We like to see movies and go out for dinner. Last year in London we saw some Bollywood movies," said Qureshi.
After Chennai, the two head off to Sydney for another preparatory event before the Australian Open.
But before that they play the conquerers of Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh, Robin Haase and David Martin in the last eight.
