Bopanna cruises in singles second round, doubles quarter-finals

London, July 25 (UNI) Rohan Bopanna hardly broke a sweat, registering straight set victories in the opening rounds of both the singles and doubles competition at the 21,000 euro ATP Nottingham Challenger grass court event.

Fresh from his exploits in Manchester, where he reached semi-final in singles and won the title in doubles, Bopanna looked absolutely in command as he thrashed the British wild card David Rice 6-4, 6-1.

The sixth seeded Indian takes on Lans Burgsmuller in the second round.

In the doubles, Bopanna paired up with Aisam-ul Haq Qureshi as the Indo-Pak pair continued from where they left in Manchester, defeating Simon Rea of New Zealand and Xavier Audouy of France 7-4 (4), 6-4 to storm in doubles quarter-finals.

The third seeds now take on the French duo of Oliver Charroin and Thomas Oger in the last eight.

Fellow Indians too had a good day in office with Purav Raja and Mustafa Ghouse entering the doubles last eight with their respective partners.

Purav Raja teamed up with Brydan Klein of Australia to beat Joshua Milton and David Rice of Britain 7-5, 6-2. Mustafa Ghouse and his British partner Joshua Goodall came from behind to triumph over Spaniard Guillermo Alcaide and Briton Samuel Groth 5-7, 7-6 (5), 10-5.

The only Indian to return empty handed on Day one was Divij Sharan who lost to Aussie Alun Jones 3-6, 4-6 in his singles first round match.

Meanwhile, top seed Aisam Qureshi outplayed Frenchman Jeremy Blandin 6-2, 7-6 to advance into the second round. The Pakistani ace faces another Frenchman Thomas Oger in the next round.

UNI