Bopanna, Matkowski reach semis in Dubai

Dubai: Rohan Bopanna, playing with his fourth different partner of the season, joined forces with Marcin Matkowski to reach the doubles semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, here.

The unseeded Indo-Polish pair knocked out Romania’s Florin Mergea and Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 6-3 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the USD 2,617,160 hard court tournament.

This is the second best performance of the season for Bopanna, who won the season-opening Chennai Open with compatriot Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan.

Bopanna and Matkowski had shocked second seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers 5-7 6-3 11-9 in the opening round of one of the most-loved events on the calender.

Bopanna could next find compatriot Leander Paes in the semifinals if the veteran Indian and his Spanish partner Guillermo Garcia-Lopez could go past third seeds Daniel Nestor from Canada and Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

There is no Indian competing in the singles. Prajnesh Gunneswaran had lost in the first round of the Qualifying event, suffering a 2-6 2-6 defeat against Romania’s 124th ranked Marius Copil.