Bopanna emerges victorious in 'battle of friends' against Aisam in Madrid Open

Madrid, May 12(ANI): The Indian tennis pair of Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi edged out the world number 13th pair of Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer 7-6, 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open.

Bopanna and Aisam are former partners and had faced each other for the first time since their split last year.

The Pakistan-Dutch pair of Aisam-Rojer looked favourites for the match after winning the Estoril Open in Portugal, and beating the number one seeds of the tournament Mike and Bob Bryan.

But, the pair failed to maintain its momentum, with Aisam saying the tiebreaks were the trickiest parts of the match.

"It's the tie-break that sealed our fate. Rojer and I are clicking and we've been playing well since last week," The Express Tribune quoted Aisam, as saying.

"However, the tie-breaks come back to haunt us. Bopanna and Bhupathi played extremely well. I'm not bitter because we chased them right till the end," he added.

Aisam said it was a very emotional moment for him as his decade long friendship with Bopanna had turned into rivalry.

"It's something very personal and yet something that sort of gave both of us an edge. I know his game very well and he knows mine. After a while, it became a game of nerves. But my priority was to win, of course," Aisam said. (ANI)