Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 13 (IANS) India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, who won their second ATP World Tour team at Halle Sunday, feel the hard fought victory in the final will make them mentally stronger ahead of the Wimbledon, beginning June 20.

The “Indo-Pak Express”, as they are called, overcame stiff resistance from Dutch Robin Haase and Milos Raonic of Canada 7-6(8), 3-6, 11-9 in the final of Gerry Weber Open, a warm-up event for the Wimbledon.

The title was their second from their nine tour-level doubles finals. Their maiden title together came at the hard court in Johannesburg last year.

“Aisam and I are loving playing on the grass; it’s our favourite surface,” said Bopanna. “So, getting a title here is fantastic for us. We’ve been coming to Halle for many years now, so it’s a really happy moment for us getting this title.”

Qureshi feels the title was one step forward towards their dream of winning a Grand Slam.

“I’m really happy that we won our last two matches in tie-breaks. It’s going to make us mentally tougher and believe in ourselves even more,” said Qureshi. “We’re just looking forward to the rest of the year. Our goal is to win a Grand Slam title and to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, and this is one step forward.”

Bopanna and Qureshi rallied from 1-5 down in the match tie-break and claimed victory after 79 minutes.

“Today we were a set up, but also 1-5 down in the match tie-break so we were lucky, played some good shots and showed some quick hands,” Bopanna. “That’s how it goes, it’s like Russian Roulette, so we were happy to come through all these breakers (this week).”

Bopanna and Qureshi racked up 250 ATP World Tour ranking points for their win. They are currently sixth in the 2011 ATP doubles team ranking.