Aisam-Cerritani Beat Federer-Chidudinelli

Adil Najam

Aisamul Haq Qureshi – Pakistan’s most prominent tennis star about whom we have written at ATP here and here – and his doubles partner James Cerritani scored a high profile upset by beating World Number One Roger Federer and his partner Marco Chiudinelliini straight sets at the Basel Open today. That this happened in Federer’s hometown makes this even more poignant for Aisam and partner.

Having rooted for Aisamul Haq Qureshi before (here and here), let us take this oportunity to root for him again. Well done, Aisam.

Here are details, from Dawn:

Pakistan’s tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi and his doubles partner James Cerritani brushed aside tennis great and world number one, Roger Federer and his Swiss compatriot Marco Chiudinelli in straight sets at the Basel Open on Tuesday.

Qureshi was at his serve-and-volleying best in the round-of-32 match as he and Cerritani cruised to victory against Federer and Chidudinelli 6-4, 6-3 to book their place in the quarter-finals of the $2.6 million ATP tournament.

Playing in Federer’s hometown, Qureshi and his partner were in control of the match from the first game and although Federer and Chiudinelli produced moments of brilliance, the grit and powerful serve-and-volley game of Qureshi and Cerritani saw them through to the end.

The Pak-Americanpair will now play tournament first-seeds Daniel Nestor (Canada) and Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) in the quarter-finals.