It was a much-awaited men’s doubles semi-final at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, Morocco on Thursday as Indian Rohan Bopanna was facing his friend and former long-time Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. The Indian World No. 11 had great memories from last year when this ATP 250 clay event was staged in Casablanca where he and his usual partner, Florin Mergea reached the final.
But this time, his run ended in the semi-finals as he and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan went down to Qureshi and Marin Draganja, 6(5)-7, 6(5)-7 despite having a handful of break-point opportunities.
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Bopanna and Mergea had been struggling this season since reaching the Sydney final at the beginning of the year and the Indian had been on a four-match losing streak coming into this tournament. With Istomin by his side, Bopanna seemed to be getting back some of his lost touch as the two had a couple of victories in Marrakech that included an upset win over the fourth-seeded Delray Beach champions Oliver Marach/Fabrice Martin.
The Indo-Uzbek duo’s confidence was thus surely high and they created as many as 11 break point chances in this hard-fought semi-final contest. Bopanna and Istomin even saved all the four break points they were facing. But it was their inability to capitalize on their chances that brought about their downfall.
Bopanna’s next tournament is the Monte Carlo Masters scheduled next week.
