‘Indo-Pak Express’ of Rohan Bopanna, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi to reunite for Acapulco ATP 500
The Indian-Pakistan pair had reached the US Open doubles final in 2010. Bopanna and Qureshi last played together in 2014.
The famed tennis duo of India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi will roll back the years when they partner up for the Acapulco ATP 500 event in Mexico later this month.
Popularly known as the Indo-Pak Express, the pair will be competing in the men’s doubles at this year’s Abierto Mexicano, to be held from March 15 to 20. The duo, however, will team up for just one event for now.
“I am super excited. Hopefully, we will play well together and hit it off. Maybe then we can decide and talk of playing a few more tournaments together, but right now, it's a one-off tournament,” Qureshi told PTI.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, currently ranked 40 and 49, respectively, in the ATP doubles ranking, intended to team up for the Dubai Tennis Championships but could not meet the ranking criteria.
Bopanna-Qureshi formed a triumphant partnership more than a decade ago, reaching the doubles final at the US Open in 2010 and the Wimbledon quarter-final in the same year.
They even broke into the top-10 in the ATP doubles team ranking after their Paris Masters win in 2011.
Apart from being a successful pair on the court, the two batted for the friendship between India and Pakistan whenever they played together.
The two also started the Stop War, Start Tennis campaign to spread their message and it saw them win the prestigious Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award, handed by the ATP.
Despite last competing as a team in 2014, at the ATP 250 event in Shenzhen, China, Qureshi remains optimistic about the rekindled partnership when they step on the hard court in Mexico.
"Hopefully, it goes well and we can maybe play more tournaments in the future as well,” Qureshi said.
The last edition of the Abierto Mexicano ATP 500 tournament was won by current world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, while the Polish-Brazilian pair of Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo claimed the doubles title.