Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi advanced to the doubles final of the Prince Hassan II Grand Prix with a 6-3, 6-4 semifinal win over Germany's Philipp Marx and Igor Zelenay of Slovakia on Thursday.
In the final they meet third seeds Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania who beat the second seeded Spanish pair of Marcel Granollers and Mark Lopez 6-4, 6-3 in the other semifinal.
Bopanna and Qureshi already have a title together this season — they had won the Johannesburg tournament in February.
Devvarman stretches Hewitt
In the US Men's Claycourt Championships on in Houston, Somdev Devvarman fought his heart out but eventually ran out of steam in a 1-6, 6-0, 7-6(2) second-round loss to former World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt on Wednesday.
The Australian, returning to the court after recuperating from hip and knee surgeries, was pushed to the limit by Devvarman.
After a first-set blow-out, the Aussie turned things around in the second set, but Devvarman, a lucky loser, kept it close in the third.
He broke Hewitt in the ninth game as the Aussie served for the match and then served for the match at 6-5, but Hewitt held him off and triumphed in the tiebreaker.
“It's unrealistic to go out there and expect to hit a lot of winners against a guy like Devvarman who's able to get a lot of balls back,” Hewitt said after the match.
“I was going for a little too much. He doesn't hit a lot of winners, but he doesn't make a lot of errors, either.”
The results: At Casa Blanca (Prince Hassan II Grand Prix): Quarterfinals: Singles: Stanislas Wawrinka bt R El Amrani 6-3, 6-1; Potito Starace bt Lukas Kubot 6-1, 6-0.
Doubles: Rohan Bopanna & Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi bt Philipp Marx & Igor Zelenay 6-3, 6-4.
— Agencies
