Bopanna-Ebden turn up heat in Dubai, Nagal falls

Dubai, February 28

Top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden entered the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships with a straight-set win over Skander Mansouri and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.

Bopanna and Australia’s Ebden, who won the Australian Open last month, took one hour and 41 minutes to get the better of Tunisia’s Mansouri and Pakistan’s Qureshi 7-6(4) 7-6(5) in the Round of 16.

Yuki Bhambri and Netherlands’ Robin Haase also progressed to the quarterfinals, defeating Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik and France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-7(6) 6-3 10-8.

However, it was curtains for India in the men’s singles after the country’s top player Sumit Nagal exited in the Round of 32. Nagal lost 4-6 7-5 1-6 against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.

Daniil Medvedev opened his title defense by beating Alexander Shevchenko 6-3 7-5 in his first match since losing the Australian Open final to Jannik Sinner.

Among other first-round matches, fourth-seeded Karen Khachanov beat Luca Van Assche 6-2 6-3, fifth-seeded Ugo Humbert outlasted Gael Monfils 4-6 6-3 6-3 and eighth-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina defeated Fabian Marozsan 6-3 4-6 6-1

Zverev stunned

Acapulco (Mexico): Daniel Altmaier pulled off a major upset, beating top-seeded Alexander Zverev in a battle of German players to qualify for the second round of the Mexican Open.

The 27-year-old Altmaier and world’s 57th ranked player defeated his countryman for the first time in three tries in 2:26 hours and will play Miomir Kecmanovic next.

Earlier, second-seeded Holger Rune eased past Michael Mmoh 6-2 6-3. — AP

Murray keen to play Paris Olympics

london: Andy Murray hopes to challenge for a third Olympics gold medal in Paris this year despite a run of poor form and the likelihood that he is just months from the end of his illustrious career. The 36-year-old British player, the only man ever to win two Olympics singles titles, has struggled for victories in recent months and is currently ranked 67th in the world. “Hopefully I can get the chance to compete at another one,” Murray said. ap

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