Bopanna-Qureshi lose in semifinal of men's doubles event

India's campaign at the US Open ended after the fifth seeded Indo-Pak pair of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi crashed out following a straight-set loss to the Polish pair of Marcin Matkowski and Maruisz Fyrstenberg in the men's double semifinal.

India's campaign at the US Open ended after the fifth seeded Indo-Pak pair of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi crashed out following a straight-set loss to the Polish pair of Marcin Matkowski and Maruisz Fyrstenberg in the men's double semifinal.

At the end of an 82-minute battle, the sixth-seed duo from Poland got the better of the Indo-Pak Express 6-2 7-6 (7-4).

Matkowski and Fyrstenberg, who defeated Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in the quarterfinals, completely dominated in the first set, converting two of the three break points they got, besides getting 75% of their second serve right as opposed to the 22 per cent of Bopanna-Qureshi.

However, the Indo-Pak pair, which had done well at Flushing Meadows having made it to the final last year, got their act together in the second set and managed to pose some threat, taking it to the tie-breaker.

It was indeed a tough fight in the second set as there was little to differentiate between the two sides but the Polish pair's winning percentage of 90% on first serve proved decisive in the end.