Bopanna-Qureshi reach semis in Manchester

Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi entered thedoubles semi-finals after a hard-fought win over Dominiq Meffert and SimonStadler of Germany in the $25,000 ATP Challenger in Manchester, England, onFriday.The Indo-Pak combination, seeded third, defeated Meffert andStadler 6-3, 5-7, 10-7 in the quarterfinals on a rain-hit day at the grass courtmen's tennis tournament. The duo was scheduled to play theirlast-four match too later in the day. But Bopanna's much awaitedsecond round singles tie against Qureshi was post-poned due to the rains.Meanwhile, Prakash Amritraj advanced to the quarterfinals of $75,000Comerica Challenger Series in Aptos, California, on Thursday.
TheIndian, playing on a wildcard, carved out a hard-fought 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4)victory over American Brian Wilson to set up a tough encounter against fifthseed Brunc Echagaray of Mexico in the hard-court event. Echagaraybeat American Todd Widom 6-4 6-1.