London: Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi lost their second match of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals as they went down to Michael Llodra of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia in their Group B match here on Tuesday.
The fifth seed "Indo-Pak Express" lost in straight sets 6-7(6), 3-6 to second seed French-Serbian combo. Bopanna and Qureshi, who are now left with just one match in their group, committed as many as seven double faults in the match as compared to just one by their opponents.
The first set went with serve with routine holds to 4-4, when three mistimed volleys put Llodra under pressure on serve. Llodra and Zimonjic saved one break point at 30/40, but, at sudden death deuce, Bopanna ripped a backhand winner down the line past Zimonjic. In the next game, Qureshi over-cooked a smash long of the baseline at set point, 40/30. In the sudden-death decider, Llodra hit a backhand winner down the line past Bopanna for 5-5.
Despite leading 40/15, at one point, Bopanna struggled on serve. On sudden-death deuce, Bopanna hit a body serve to Llodra, which the Frenchman could not return. The set was decided on a tie-break. Llodra and Zimonjic took a 2-0 lead, before Bopanna and Qureshi won six straight points to 6-2.
Three set point chances were squandered, then, Bopanna and Qureshi lot their concentration. At 6-5 there was an unusual occurrence, when Bopanna hit a lob forehand that went inside the video scoreboard above the Centre Court. Zimonjic thought he and Llodra had won the point, but the ball dropped into play and Llodra fired a smash winner. After consultation with the umpire and the ATP Supervisor, the point was replayed. Llodra and Zimonjic completed their streak of six straight points to win the 50-minute set, when Bopanna hit a forehand volley long.
Courtesy: http://www.atpworldtour.com