‘Indo-Pak Express’ in doubles final

Dubai: The ‘Indo-Pak Express’ of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi eased into the doubles final with a commanding 6-2, 6-0 win over Tomasz Bednarek and Lukas Dlouhy where they will meet top seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic on Saturday.

Coming in as the favourites as the second-seeded pair, Bopanna and Qureshi held a tight grip on the match that lasted all of 48 minutes before a sizeable crowd on centre court after Roger Federer had floored defending champion Novak Djokovic in the singles semi-final earlier on.

The doubles final will be played at 5 pm and will be followed by the singles final between Federer and Tomas Berdych at 7 pm on Saturday.

Bopanna and Qureshi were riding on an early break for a 3-1 lead when it drizzled for a second time on Friday night. After play was resumed Bopanna held to push further 4-1 and then breezed through the set 6-2 in just 23 minutes.

The second set was a total domination, and try much as they could, neither the experience of Dlouhy nor the shot-making of Bednarek went their way as Bopanna and Qureshi broke in second, fourth and sixth games to wrap up set and match in 48 minutes.