Indo-Pak pair set to clinch the doubles title

London, July 28: Any which way an Indian is set to clinch the doubles title at the 21,000 euro ATP Nottingham Challenger, as the duo of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul Haq Qureshi takes on the pair of Mustafa Ghouse (India) and Joshua Godall (Great Britain) in the finals of the grass court event here.

The third seed Indo-Pak pair overcame a tough challenge from top seeds Lars Burgsmuller of Germany and Harel Levy of Israel 6-4, 5-7, 12-10 to come in contention for their second succesive title this year in the ATP Challenger circuit. The duo had earlier won the Manchester Challenger last week.

In the other semi-final, second seeds Ghouse and Godall had an easy outing against the Aussie duo of Adam Coelho and Adam Feeney. The Indo-British pair outclassed the fourth seeds in straight sets 7-6(2), 7-6(3) to register their first final appearance in the ATP circuit.

Meanwhile, in the singles competition, top seed Qureshi expectedly moved into the finals with a three-set victory over unseeded Jesse Huta Galung of Netherlands 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

He will lock horns against against second seed Alun Jones of Australia in the decider.

Qureshi earlier got a walkover against Bopanna in the quarter-final, after his doubles partner retired at 3-4 on serve in the first set with 'diarrhoea'.

UNI